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THE 



WISDOM AND GENIUS 



OF 



SHAKSPEARE; 



COMPRISING 

MORAL PHILOSOPHY— DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER- 
PAINTINGS OF NATURE AND THE PASSIONS- 
SEVEN HUNDRED APHORISMS— AND 
MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. 



WITH 

Select atrti ©rtflfnal Hotes, ant! Scriptural References : 

THE WHOLE MAKING A TEXT BOOK FOR THE 
PHILOSOPHER, MORALIST, STATESMAN, POET, AND PAINTER. 

BY THE 

REV. THOMAS PRICE, 

i 

Chaplain in Her Majesty's Convict Establishment at Woolwich. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
E. L. CAREY & A. HART. 

1839. 



7% 1*1 fe % 



out 

W. L. Shoemaker 
7 S '06 



PREFACE. 



Many works consisting" of compilations from the 
writings of Shakspeare have already appeared under 
different forms, but I am not aware that any thing has 
ever been attempted on the plan of the work now pre- 
sented to the public. My principal object has been to 
exhibit the Wisdom and Genius of our author, as these 
are reflected in his lucid pages, which have been justly 
characterized " the richest, the purest, the fairest which 
genius uninspired ever laid open."* 

The first Section contains the Morals of Shakspeare, 
which are very numerous and of an exalted character. 
There is more moral knowledge contained in a few 
lines, or a sentence of our author, than is to be found 
in a whole chapter of those works which treat ex- 
pressly of Moral science. There is one thing worthy 
of special observation in the Morals of Shakspeare, 
which presents his character in a very interesting light; 
I refer to the strong tincture which they have of Di- 
vine truth, affording evidence of his mind having been 
deeply imbued with the pure morality of the Gospel. 
This highly interesting feature of his morals I have 
pointed out in many instances, by references to particu- 
lar passages of Scripture.f 

Although the first part of the work is designated 
Moral Philosophy, the reader must not infer from 
thence that there are no morals in the other Sections : 
the truth is, morals pervade the whole work, but 
many of them are so interwoven with the Characters, 
Nature and the Passions, &c, as not to admit of 
being -separated. 

Our author's paintings of the Passions are not 

* Times Newspaper, Dec. 14, 1837. 

| See particularly page 120, No. 713, to the end of the Section. 



IV PREFACE. 

less deserving of our admiration than his moral wis- 
dom and delineations of Characters. He is the great 
master of the human heart, and depicts in an in- 
imitable manner all the feelings of humanity, from 
the almost imperceptible emotions to the most tem- 
pestuous passions that agitate the breast of man. 
As A. W. Schlegel justly observes, " He lays open to 
us in a single word, a whole series of preceding 
conditions." 

In that part of the work which respects Nature, 
I have exhibited to the reader those exquisitely beau- 
tiful natural images which abound throughout our 
author's writings, and which claim the admiration of 
every cultivated mind. This excellence has been 
often alluded to, and is thus beautifully expressed by 
one who was capable of appreciating it : " He was 
familiar with all beautiful forms and images, with 
all that is sweet or majestic in the simple aspects of 
nature, of that indestructible love of flowers, and 
odours, and dews, and clear waters — and soft airs 
and sounds, and bright skies and woodland solitudes, 
and moonlight bowers, which are the material elements 
of poetry, — and w r ith that fine sense of their undefina- 
ble relation to mental emotion, which is its essence 
and vivifying soul — and which, in the midst of his most 
busy and atrocious scenes, falls like gleams of sunshine 
on rocks and ruins — contrasting with all that is rug- 
ged and repulsive, and reminding us of the existence 
of purer and brighter elements."* 

Take also the sentiments of the following writers 
who speak in accordance with this work : " To instruct 
by delighting is a power seldom enjoyed by man, and 
still seldomer exercised. It is in this respect that Ho- 
mer may be called the second of men, and Shakspeare 
the first. The wisdom of the Greek was not so uni- 
versal as that of the Briton, nor his genius so omnipo- 
tent in setting it forth attractively. From the several 
works of the latter, a single work might be compiled 
little less worthy of divine sanction than any other 
extant, and by the beauty of its nature far more secure 
of human attention. But Shakspeare has done so much 
in this way, so nearly all that is sufficient, he has made 

* Edinburgh Review, vol. xxviii. p. 473. 



PREFACE. V 

the laws of the Decalogue and all their corollaries so 
familiar, he has exhibited the passions and propensities, 
the feelings and emotions, incident to humanity, so 
freely, and as we might say graphically, that another 
such artist would be superfluous : Nature might create 
a second Shakspeare, but it would be bad economy. 
What the first has left undone, may be completed by a 
much less expense of Promethean fire than would go 
to the creation of a second. We are therefore not to 
look for a similar being, at least until we acquire new 
attributes, or are under a new moral dispensation. 
Spirits of an inferior order, a Milton, a Pope, or a Cow- 
per, are potent enough to disseminate the remaining 
or minor truths of natural morality amongst the people ; 
or rather to repeat, illustrate, and impress them on our 
hearts and memories. Writers of this class, whom we 
may call the lay-ministers of the Deity, to teach from 
the press instead of the pulpit, in the closet instead of 
the church, we may expect ; and with them should be 
satisfied. Though we cannot reasonably hope for 
another high-prophet of profane inspiration to recom- 
municate to us the lessons of divine wisdom which are 
already to be found in Shakspeare, it is no presumption 
to hope that the spirit of illumination will descend upon 
humbler poets, and make them our secular guides in 
morality."* 

The same remark as the above will be seen in the 
following quotation. The reader will also do well to 
consult the opinions of some eminent writers on the 
Sectional leaves. 

" It is quite impossible to estimate the benefits which 
this country has received from the eternal productions 
of Shakspeare. Their influence has been gradual, but 
prodigious — operating at first on the loftier intellects, 
but becoming in time diffused over all, spreading wis- 
dom and charity amongst us. There is, perhaps, no 
one person of any considerable rate of mind who does 
not owe something to this matchless poet. He is the 
teacher of all good, — pity, generosity, true courage, 
love. His works alone (leaving mere science out of 
the question) contain, probably, more actual wisdom 

* London Magazine, Oct. 1, 1824. 



VI PREFACE. 

than the whole body of English learning-. He is the 
text for the moralist and the philosopher.* His bright 
wit is cut out ' into little stars :' his solid masses of 
knowledge are meted out in morsels and proverbs ; and 
thus distributed, there is scarcely a corner, which he 
does not illuminate, or a cottage which he does not en- 
rich. His bounty is like the sea, which, though often 
unacknowledged, is every where felt ; on mountains 
and plains, and distant places, carrying its cloudy fresh- 
ness through the air, making glorious the heavens, and 
spreading verdure on the earth beneath."! 

It is with infinite satisfaction that I am borne out in 
my opinion of the nature of this work, by a similar re- 
mark of Coleridge. He says, 

" I greatly dislike beauties and selections in general ; 
but as proof positive of his unrivalled excellence, I 
should like to try Shakspeare by this criterion. Make 
out your amplest catalogue of all the human faculties, 
as reason or the moral law, the will, the feeling of the 
coincidence of the two (a feeling sui generis et de- 
monstratio demonstrationum), called the conscience, 
the understanding or prudence, wit, fancy, imagination, 
judgment, — and then of the objects on which these are 
to be employed, as the beauties, the terrors, and the 
seeming caprices, of nature, the realities and the capa- 
bilities, that is, the actual and the ideal, of the human 
mind, conceived as an individual or as a social being, 
as in innocence or in guilt, in a play-paradise, or in a 
war-field of temptation ; and then compare with Shak- 
speare, under each of these heads, all or any of the 
writers in prose and verse that have ever lived. Who 
that is competent to judge doubts the result T'J 

T. P. 

Woohvich, June, 1838. 

* And it might be added, for the statesman, poet, and painter. 

f Retrospective Review. 

j Literary Remains, vol. ii. p. 68. 



A KE1 to the figures at the end of each piece; as, 16 — iv. 2. 
id est, King John, act iv. scene 2. 



1 


Tempest. 


2 


Two Gentlemen of Verona. 


3 


Merry Wives of Windsor. 


4 


Twelfth Night. 


5 


Measure for Measure. 


6 


Much Ado about Nothing. 


7 


Midsummer Night's Dream. 


8 


Love's Labour's Lost. 


9 


Merchant of Venice. 


10 


As You Like It. 


11 


All's Well that Ends Well. 


12 


Taming of the Shrew. 


13 


Winter's Tale. 


14 


Comedy of Errors. 


15 


Macbeth. 


16 


King John. 


17 


King Richard II. 


18 


King Henry IV.— Part 1st. 


19 


Ditto Part 2d. 


20 


King Henry V. 


21 


King Henry VI.— Part 1st. 


22 


Ditto Part 2d 


23 


Ditto Part 3d. 


24 


King Richard III. 


25 


King Henry VIII. 


26 


Troilus and Cressida. 


27 


Timon of Athens. 


28 


Coriolanus. 


29 


Julius Caesar. 


30 


Antony and Cleopatra. 


31 


Cymbeline. 


32 


Titus Andronicus. 


33 


Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 


34 


King Lear. 


35 


Romeo and Juliet. 


36 


Hamlet. 


37 


Othello. 



Several pieces were mislaid, and not discovered until it 
was too late to have them inserted in their respec- 
tive Sections : they are therefore placed in the Mis- 
cellaneous part. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



" It may be said of Shakspeare, that from his works may be 
collected a system of civil and economical prudence. * 
* * * He has himself been imitated by all suc- 
ceeding writers ; and it may be doubted, whether from all 
his successors more maxims of theoretical knowledge, or 
more rules of practical prudence, can be collected, than 
he alone has given to his country." 

Dr. Johnson. 



MORAL 

PHILOSOPHY. 



1 Gifts, not our own. 
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do; 
Not light them for themselves : for if our virtues 
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike 

As if we had them not.* Spirits are not finely touch'd, 

But to fine issues : nor nature never lends 

The smallest scruple of her excellence, 

But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines 

Herself the glory of a creditor, 

Both thanks and use.f 5 — i. 1. 

2 The same. 
Thyself and thy belongings 

Are not thine own so proper, as to waste 

Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee. 5 — i. 1. 

3 Faults, extenuation of. 
Oftentimes, excusing of a fault, 

Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse; 
As patches, set upon a little breach, 
Discredit more, in hiding of the fault,! 
Than did the fault before it was so patch'd. 

16— iv. 2. 

4 Modern and present opinions contrasted. 
In this, the antique and well-noted face 

Of plain old form is much disfigured : 

* Matt. v. 15, 16. t Interest. Matt. xxv. 20, &c 

X i. e. Blemish. 



4 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

And, like a shifted wind unto a sail, 

It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about ; 

Startles and frights consideration ; 

Makes sound opinion sick, and truth suspected, 

For putting on so new a fashion'd robe. 16 — iv. 2. 

5 The future anticipated by the past. 
There is a history in all men's lives, 
Figuring the nature of the times deceased : 
The which observed, a man may prophecy, 
With a near aim, of the main chance of things 
As yet not come to life ; which in their seeds, 

And weak beginnings, lie intreasured. 19 — iii. 1. 

6 Wise men superior to woes. 

Wise men ne'er wail their present woes, 
But presently prevent the ways to wail. - 

To fear the foe, since fear oppresseth strength, 
Gives, in your weakness, strength unto your foe, 
And so your follies fight against yourself. 17 — iii. 2. 

7 Apathy. 

Patience, unmoved, no marvel though she paur-e ;* 

They can be meek, that have no other cause, f 

A wretched soul, bruised with adversity, 

We bid be quiet, when we hear it cry ; 

But were we burden'd with like weight of pain, 

As much, or more, we should ourselves complain. 

14— ii. 1. 

8 Men's last words to be regarded. 
The tongues of dying men 

Enforce attention like deep harmony; 

Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in 

vain, 
For they breathe truth that breathe their words in 

pain. 
He, that no more must say, is listen'd more 

Than they, whom youth and ease have taught to 

glose ;} 
More are men's ends mark'd, than their lives before : 
The setting sun, and music at the close, 

* To pause is to rest, to be in quiet. 

1 1. e. Who have no cause to be otherwise. % Flatter. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 5 

As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last ; 
Writ in remembrance, more than things long" past. 

17— ii. 1. 

9 Self-interest, its influence. 
Commodity,* the bias of the world ; 
The world, who of itself is peisedf well, 
Made to run even, upon even ground ; 
Till this advantage, this vile drawing bias, 
This sway of motion, this commodity, 
Makes it take head from all indifferency, 
From all direction, purpose, course, intent. 

16— ii. 2. 

10 Assured wisdom. 

They say, miracles are past; and we have our 
philosophical persons, to make modern! and familiar 
things, supernatural and causeless. Hence is it, that 
we make trifles of terrors ; ensconcing ourselves into 
seeming knowledge, when we should submit our- 
selves to an unknown fear.§ 11 — ii. 3. 

1 1 Blessings undervalued, till irrecoverable. 

Love, that comes too late 
Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried, 
To the great sender turns a sour offence, 
Crying, That's good, that's gone: our rash faults 
Make trivial price of serious things we have, 
Not knowing them, until we know their grave ; 
Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust, 
i/estroy our friends, and after weep their dust. 

11— v. 3. 

12 Wishes, unsubstantial. 

'Tis pity 
That wishing well had not a body in't, 
Which might be felt : that we, the poorer born, 
Whose baser stars do shut us up in wishes, 
Might with effects of them follow our friends, 
And show what we alone nrjst think ;|| which ne'er 
Returns us thanks. 11 — i. 1. 

* Self-interest, t Poised, balanced. 

J Ordinary. § Fear means here, the object of fear. 

j(t. e. And show by realities what we now must only think. 

1 * 



6 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

13 Treachery. 

Though those, that are betray'd. 
Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor 
Stands in worse case of woe. 31 — iii. 4. 

14 Undue grief. 

To persevere 
In obstinate condolement,* is a course 
Of impious stubbornness ; 'tis unmanly grief: 
It shows a will most incorrectf to heaven ; 
A heart unfortified, or mind impatient ; 
An understanding simple and unschooi'd.f 36 — i. 2. 

15 Contentment. 

Blessed be those, 
How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills, 
Which seasons comfort. § 31 — i. 7. 

16 Intemperance. 

As surfeit is the father of much fast, 

So every scope by the immoderate use 

Turns to restraint : Our natures do pursue 

(Like rats that ravin|| down their proper bane) 

A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die. 5 — i. 3. 

17 Elevation, exposed to censure. 

place and greatness, millions of false eyes 
Are stuck upon thee ! volumes of report 

Run with these false and most contrarious questsU 
Upon thy doings ! thousand 'scapes** of wit 
Make thee„the father of their idle dream, 
And rack thee in their fancies ! 5 — iv. 1. 

18 Human actions viewed by Heaven. 

If pow'rs divine 
Behold our human actions, (as they do,) 

1 doubt not then, but innocence shall make 
False accusation blush, and tyranny 

Tremble at patience. 13 — iii. 2. 

* Condolement, for sorrow. f Incorrect, for untutored. 

1 1 Thess. iv. 13. § 1 Tim. vi.6. 

|| Voraciously devour. TT Inquisitions, inquiries. ** Sallies. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 7 

19 Certainty of Death. 

That we shall die, we know ; 'tis but the time, 
And drawing days out, that men stand upon. " 

29— iii. 1. 

20 The value of Virtue. 

The honour of a maid is her name ; and no legacy 
is so rich as honesty. 11 — iii. 5. 

21 Desertion. 

The service of the foot 
Being once gangrened, is not then respected 
For what before it was. 28 — iii. 1. 

22 Durability of Fame. 

Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives, 

Live register'd upon our brazen tombs, 

And then grace us in the disgrace of death ; 

When, spite of cormorant devouring Time, 

Th' endeavour of this present breath may buy 

That honour, which shall bate his scythe's keen edge, 

And make us heirs of all eternity.* 8 — i. 1. 

23 Honours not hereditary. 

Honours best thrive, 
When rather from our acts we them derive 
Than our fore-goers : the mere word's a slave, 
Debauch'd on every tomb ; on every grave, 
A lying trophy, and as oft is dumb, 
Where dust, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb 
Of honour'd bones indeed. 11 — ii. 3. 

24 Confidence, not to be placed in man. 

O momentary grace of mortal men, 

Which we more hunt for than the grace of God ! 

Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks, 

Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast ; 

Ready, with every nod, to tumble down 

Into the fatal bowels of the deep. 24 — iii. 4. 

25 Submission to Providence. 
I do find it cowardly and vile, 

* i.e. Through all succeeding ages. 



8 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

For fear of what might fall, so to prevent* 

The time of life : — (arming- myself with patience) 

To stay the providence of some high powers, 

That govern us below. 29 — v. I. 

26 The love of Novelty. 

There is so great a fever on goodness, that the 
dissolution of it must cure it : novelty is only in re- 
quest ; and it is as dangerous to be aged in any kind 
of course, as it is virtuous to be constant in any un- 
dertaking. There is scarce truth enough alive, to 
make societies secure ; but security enough to make 
fellowships accursed : much upon this riddle runs the 
wisdom of the world. 5 — iii. 2. 

27 Miracles and means. 

Miracles are ceased ; 
And therefore we must needs admit the means, 
How things are perfected. 20 — i. 1. 

28 The apprehension of evils. 

Doubting things go ill, often hurts more 

Than to be sure they do : For certainties 

Either are past remedies : or, timely knowing, 

The remedy then born. 31 — i. 7. 

29 Sincerity. 

I hold it cowardice 
To rest mistrustful, where a noble heart 
Hath pawn'd an open hand in sign of love. 

23— iv. 2. 

30 The effects of Sorrow. 

Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours, 
Makes the night morning, and the noontide night. 
Princes have but their titles for their glories, 
An outward honour for an inward toil ; 
And, for unfelt imaginations, 
They often feel a world of restless cares : 
So that, between their titles, and low name, 
There's nothing differs but the outward fame. 

24— i. 4. 

* To anticipate. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 9 

31 Silent sincerity. 

Nor are those empty-hearted, whose low sound 
Reverbs* no hollowness. 34 — i. 1. 

32 Pride's mirror. 

He, that is proud, eats up himself: pride is his 
own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle ; and 
whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours the 
deed in the praise. 26 — ii. 3. 

33 Nature and Art. 

Labouring art can never ransom nature 
From her unaidable estate. 

Nature is made better by no mean, 

But nature makes that mean : so, o'er that art, 
Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art, 
That nature makes. You see, we marry 
A gentler scion to the wildest stock ; 
" And make conceive a bark of baser kind 
By bud of nobler race : This is an art 
Which does mend nature, — change it rather : but 
The art itself is nature. 11— ii. 1. & 13 — iv. 3. 

34 Detraction. 

The greatest are misthought 
For things that others do ; and, when we fall, 
We answer others' meritsf in our name. 30 — v. 2. 

35 Dissimulation. 

That we were all, as some would seem to be, 
Free from our faults, as faults from seeming free ! 

5— iii. 2. 

36 Custom, supreme in its power. 

What custom wills, in all things should we do't, 

The dust on antique time would lie unswept, 

And mountainous error be too highly heap'd 

For truth to over-peer.! 28 — ii. 3. 

37 Hardened impiety. 

When, we in our viciousness grow hard, 
(O misery on't !) the wise gods seel§ our eyes ; 

* Reverberates. f Merita, or demerits. 

% Overlook. § Close up. 



10 MORA.L PHILOSOPHY. 

In our own filth drop our clear judgments ; make us 

Adore our errors ; laugh at us, while we strut 

To our confusion.* 30 — iii. 11. 

38 Procrastination. 

Fearful commenting 
Is leaden servitorf to dull delay ; 
Delay leads impotent and snail-paced beggary. 

24— iv. 3. 

39 Virtue contrasted with Vice. 

What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted ?| 
Thrice is he arm'd, that hath his quarrel just; 
And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel, 
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted. 

22— iii. 2. 

40 The wretchedness of human dependence. 

O how wretched 
Is that poor man, that hangs on princes' favours ! 
There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to, 
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, 
More pangs and fears than wars or women have ; 
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, 
Never to hope again. \ 25 — iii. 2. 

41 Prayers denied, often profitable. 
We, ignorant of ourselves, 

Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers 

Deny us for our good ; so find we profit, 

By losing of our prayers.|| 30 — ii. 1. 

42 Lamentation. 

Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, ex- 
cessive grief the enemy to the living. IF 11 — i. 1. 

43 Recreation, a preventive of Melancholy. 
Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue, 
But moody and dull Melancholy, 
(Kinsman to grim and comfortless Despair ;) 
And, at her heels, a huge infectious troop 

Of pale distemperature, and foes to life"? 14 — v. 1. 

* Rom. i. 28. 2 Thess. ii. 11. Isa. xliv. 20. 
t Timorous thought and cautious disquisition are the dull at- 
tendants on delay. J Eph. vi_14. 
§ Ps. cxviii. 9. Isa. xiv. 12 || Jas. iv. 3. TT Prov. xv. 13. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 11 

44 Hope and Despair. 

The instant action (a cause on foot) 
Lives so in hope, as in an early spring 
We see th' appearing buds ; which, to prove fruit, 
Hope gives not so much warrant, as despair, 
That frosts will bite them. 19— i. 3. 

45 Courage. 

By how much unexpected, by so much 

We must awake endeavour for defence ; 

For courage mounteth with occasion. 16 — ii. 1. 

46 Pride, its universality. 

Why, who cries out on pride, 
That can therein tax any private party 1 
Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea, 
Till that the very very means do ebb 1 
What woman in the city do I name, 
When that I say, The city-woman bears 
The cost of princes on unworthy shoulders! 
Who can come in, and say, that I mean her, 
When such a one as she, such is her neighbour? 
Or what is be of basest function, 
That says, his bravery is not on my cost 
(Thinking that I mean him), but therein suits 
His folly to the mettle of my speech ! 
There then ; How, what then 1 Let me see wherein 
My tongue hath wrong'd him ; if it do him right, 
Then he hath wrong'd himself; if he be free, 
Why then, my taxing like a wild-goose flies, 
Unclaim'd of any man. 10 — ii. 7. 

47 Contentment. 

How, in one house, 
Should many people, under two commands, 
Hold amity ?* 34 — ii. 4. 

48 Effrontery of Vice. 

I ne'er heard yet, 
That any of these bolder vices wanted 
Less impudence to gainsay what they did, 
Than to perform it first. 13 — iii. 2. 

* Matt, vi. 24. 



12 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

49 Self-delusion. 

What things are we ! 
Merely our own traitors. And as in the common 
course of all treasons, we still see them reveal them- 
selves, till they attain to their abhorred ends ; so he, 
that contrives against his own nobility, in his proper 
stream o'erflows himself.* 11 — iv. 3. 

50 Calumny. 

The jewel, best enamelled, 
Will lose his beauty ; and though gold 'bides still, 
That others touch, yet often touching will 
Wear gold ; and so no man that hath a name, 
But falsehood and corruption doth it shame, f 

14— ii. 1. 

51 Base insinuations. 

The shrug, the hum, or ha ; these petty brands, 
That calumny doth use : — 

For calumny will sear J 
Virtue itself :— these shrugs, these hums, and ha's, 
When you have said, she's goodly, come between, 
Ere you can say, she's honest. 13 — ii. 1. 

52 Impediments increase desire. 

All impediments in fancy's^ course 

Are motives of more fancy. 11 — v. 3. 

53 Reputation invaluable. 

The purest treasure mortal times afford, 

Is — spotless reputation ; that away, 

Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay. 

A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest 

Is — a bold spirit in a loyal breast. 17 — i. 1. 

54 Adversity. 

Foundations fly the wretched ; such, I mean, 
Where they should be relieved. 31 — iii. 6. 

* j. e. Betrays his own secrets in his own talk. 

t Gold will long bear the handling; however, often touching will 
wear even gold ; just so the greater character, though as pure as 
gold itself, may in time be injured by the repeated attacks of false- 
hood and corruption. 

J Brand as infamous. § Love. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 13 

55 Rumour, its diffusiveness. 

Rumour is a pipe 
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures ; 
And of so easy and so plain a stop, 
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads, 
The still discordant wavering multitude, 
Can play upon it. 19 — Induction. 

56 The same. 

Loud Rumour speaks : 
I, from the orient to the drooping west, 
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold 
The acts commenced on this ball of earth : 
Upon my tongues continual slanders ride ; 
The which in every language I pronounce, 
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports. 

19 — Induction. 

57 Companionship. 

In companions 
That do converse and waste the time together, 
Whose souls do bear, an equal yoke of love, 
There must be needs a like proportion 
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit. 9 — iii. 4. 

58 Friendship. 

Friendship is constant in all other things, 

Save in the office and affairs of love : 

Therefore,* all hearts in love use their own tongues; 

Let every eye negotiate for itself, 

And trust no agent : for beauty is a witch, 

Against whose charms faith melteth into blood, f 

6— ii. 1. 

59 Happiness, where delusive. 

O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness 
through another man's eyes ! 10 — v. ii. 

60 The effect of show on weak minds. 

The fool multitude, that choose by show, 
Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach ; 
Which pries not to th' interior, but, like the martlet, 

* ' Therefore.' Let, which is found in the next line, is understood 
here. t Passion. 

2 



14 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 
Even in the force* and road of casualty. 

9— ii. 9. 

61 True Modesty. 

It is the witness still of excellency, 

To put a strange face on his own perfection. 6 — ii. 3. 

62 Intellectual advancement. 

For nature, crescent,! does not grow alone 

In thews and bulk } but as this temple waxes, 

The inward service of the mind and soul 

Grows wide withal. 36 — i. 3. 

63 Guile. 

O, what authority and show of truth 

Can cunning sin cover itself withal ! 6 — iv. 1. 

64 Hypocrisy. 

The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.^ 

An evil soul, producing holy witness, 

Is like a villain with a smiling cheek ; 

A goodly apple rotten at the heart ; 

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath ! 9 — i. 3. 

65 Fear unfits for action. 

The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed, 

And extreme fear can neither fight nor fly, 

But coward-like with trembling terror die. Poems. 

66 Fame, the love of. 

Glory grows guilty of detested crimes ; 

When, for fame's sake, for praise, an outward part, 

We bend to that the working of the heart. 8 — iv. 1. 

67 Fickle-mindedness. 

O perilous mouths, 
That bear in them one and the self-same tongue, 
Either of condemnation or approof! 
Bidding the law make court'sy to their will ; 
Hooking both right and wrong to th' appetite, 
To follow as it draws ! 5 — ii. 4. 

* Power. f Increasing. J Matt. iv. 6. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 15 

68 Duplicity. 

O, what may man within him hide, 

Though angel on the outward side ! 

How may likeness,* made in crimes, 

Making practice on the times, 

Draw with idle spiders, stringsf 

Most pond'rous and substantial things ! 5 — iii. 2. 

69 Calumny. 

Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou 
shalt not escape calumny. 36 — iii. 1. 

70 False praise. 

When we for recompense have praised the vile, 

It stains the glory in that happy verse 

Which aptly sings the good. 27 — i. 1. 

71 Falsehood, its evil. 

Will poor folks lie, 
That have afflictions on them ; knowing 'tis 
A punishment, or trial 1 Yes ; no wonder, 
When rich ones scarce tell true : To lapse in fulness 
Is sorer,| than to lie for need ; and falsehood 
Is worse in kings, than beggars. 5 31 — iii. 6. 

72 Mercy. 

O, it is excellent 
To have a giant's strength ; but it is tyrannous 
To use it like a giant. 5 — ii. 2. 

73 Authority. 

Could great men thunder 
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, 

For every pelting*,!] petty officer, [der. 

Would use his heaven for thunder : nothing but thun- 
Merciful Heaven ! 

Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt, 
Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarledlT oak, 

* Appearance. t False and feeble pretences. 

J Sorer, a greater or heavier crime. 

§ The noble saying of John of France, ' That if truth were banish- 
ed all other places of the earth, she ought still to find a dwelling in 
the hearts of kings.' J Paltry. 1f Knotted. 



16 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Than the soft myrtle ! — O, but man, proud man ! 

Drest in a little brief authority — 

Most ignorant of what he's most assured, 

His glassy essence, — like an angry ape, 

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, 

As make the angels weep. 5 — ii. 2. 

74 Divine Justice. 

You are above, 
You justicers, that these our nether crimes 
So speedily can venge ! 34 — iv. 2. 

75 Unseasonable comfort. 

That comfort comes too late ; 
'Tis like a pardon after execution : 
That gentle physic, given in time, had cured me ; 
But now I am past all comforts here, but prayers. 

25— iv. 2. 

76 Things to be valued by their worth. 

From the lowest place when virtuous things proceed, 

The place is dignified by the doer's deed : 

Where great additions* swell, and virtue none, 

It is a dropsied honour : good alone 

Is good, without a name; vileness is so:f 

The property by what it is should go, 

Not by the title. 11— ii. 3. 

77 Fidelity. 

We must not stint}: 
Our necessary actions, in the fear 
To cope§ malicious censurers ; which ever, 
As ravenous fishes, do a vessel follow, 
That is new trimm'd ; but benefit no farther 
Than vainly longing. 25 — i. 2. 

78 Judgment of weak minds not to be regarded. 

What we oft do best, 
By sick interpreters, once|| weak ones, is 
Not ours, or not allow'd ;Tr what worst, as oft, 

* Titles. 

fGood is good independent of any worldly distinction, and so is 
vileness vile. 

X Retard. § Encounter. \\ Sometime. IT Approved. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 17 

Hitting a grosser quality, is cried up 

For our best act. 25 — i. 2. 

79 Depravity. 

Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile :* 

Filths savour but themselves. 34 — iv. 2. 

80 Oppression. 

In the fatness of these pursy times, 
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg ; 
Yea, curbf and woo, for leave to do him good. 

36— iii. 4. 

81 Traducement. 

O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power 

To seduce i 36— i. 5. 

82 Flattery. 

O, that men's ears should be 
To counsel deaf but not to flattery ! 27 — i. 2. 

83 Virtue and Vice. 

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall : 

Some run from brakesj of vice, and answer none ; 

And some condemned for a fault alone. 5 — ii. 1. 

84 Satan outwitting himself. 

The devil knew not what he did, when he made 
man politic ; he crossed himself by't : and I cannot 
think, but, in the end, the villanies of man will set 
him clear. 27 — iii. 3. 

85 Carnality. 

Ingrateful man, with liquorish draughts, 

And morsels unctuous, greases his pure mind, 

That from it all consideration slips. 27 — iv. 3. 

86 Mental deformity and virtue. 

In nature there's no blemish, but the mind ; 
None can be call'd deform'd, but the unkind : 

* Titus i . 15. t Bend. 

% ' Brakes of vice,' means the engine of torture. In Holinshed, 
p. 670, it is mentioned , ' the said Hawkins was cast into the Tower, 
and at length brought to the brake; &c. Thip engine is still to be 
seen in the Tower. 

2* 



18 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Virtue is beauty ; but the beauteous-evil 

Are empty trunks,* o'erflourishedf by the devil. 

4 — iii. 4. 

87 Virtue and Vice, their influence. 

Virtue, as it never will be moved, 

Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven ; 

So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd, 

Will satet itself in a celestial bed, 

And prey on garbage. 36 — i. 5. 

88 Hypocrisy. 

'Tis too much proved,^ — that, with devotion's visage, 

And pious action, we do sugar o'er 

The devil himself. 36— iii. 4. 

89 Age provident. Youth heedless. 

It seems, it is as proper to our age 

To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions, 

As it is common for the younger sort 

To lack discretion. 36 — ii. 1. 

90 Instability of worldly glory. 

Like madness is the glory of this life, 

As this pomp shows to a little oil, and root. || 

We make ourselves fools, to disport ourselves ; 

And spend our flatteries, to drink those men, 

Upon whose age we void it up again 

With poisonous spite and envy. 27 — i. 2. 

91 Mankind, its general character. 

Who lives, that's not 
Depraved, or depraves? who dies, that bears 
Not one spurn to their graves of their friend's gift 31T 

27— i. 2. 

92 Interposition. 

'Tis dangerous, when the baser nature comes 

* In the time of Shakspeare, trunks, which are now deposited in 
lumber-rooms, were part of the furniture in apartments where com- 
pany was received. The}' were richly ornamented on the top and sides 
with scrollwork, and emblematical devices, and were elevated on 
feet. 

t Ornamented. \ Satiate. § Too frequent. 

|| i. e. The glory of this life is just as much madness in the eye of 
reason, as pomp appears to be when compared to the frugal repast 
of a philosopher. V i. e. Given them by their friends. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 19 

Between the pass and fell incensed points 

Of mighty' opposites. 36 — v. 2. 

93 Developement. 

Time shall unfold what plaited* cunning hides, 
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.f 

34— i. 1. 

94 Obstinacy, its evil. 

To persist 
In doing wrong, extenuates not wrong, 
But makes it much more heavy. 26 — ii. 2. 

95 Licentiousness. 

What rein can hold licentious wickedness, 
When down the hill he holds his fierce career 1 

20— iii. 3. 

96 Filial rebellion. 

That nature which contemns its origin, 

Cannot be border'd certain in itself ;| 

She, that herself will sliver^ and disbranch 

From her material sap, perforce must wither, 

And come to deadly use. 34 — iv. 2. 

97 Disordered imaginations. 

Dangerous conceits are, in their natures, poisons, 
Which, at the first, are scarce found to distaste ; 
But with a little act upon the blood, 
Burn like the mines of sulphur. 37 — iii. 3. 

98 Repentance. 

Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes, 
Which after-hours give leisure to repent. 

24— iv. 4. 

99 Frailly of man. 

Where's that palace, whereinto foul things 
Sometimes intrude not 1 who has a breast so pure, 
But some uncleanly apprehensions 

+ Folded, doubled. 

| ' He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.' Prov. xxviii. 13. 
First folio reads, 

' Who covers faults at last with shame derides.' 
J Restrained within any certain bounds. § Tear off. 



20 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Keep leets,* and law-days, and in session sit 

With meditations lawful If 37— iii. 3. 

100 Timidity and self-confidence. 

Blind Fear, that seeing Reason leads, finds safer 
footing than blind Reason stumbling without Fear. 

26— iii. 2. 

101 Judgment influenced by circumstances. 

Men's judgments are 
A parcel^ of their fortunes ; and things outward 
Do draw the inward quality after them, 
To suffer all alike. 30— iii. 11. 

102 Sorrows subdued. 

Gnarling§ sorrow hath less power to bite 
The man that mocks at it, and sets it light. 

17— i. 3. 

103 Cold comfort. 

Cold ways, 
That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous 
Where the disease is violent. 28 — iii. 1. 

104 Knowledge to be communicated. 

That man — how dearly ever parted,|| 
How much in having, or without, or in, — 
Cannot make boast to have that which he hath, 
Nor feels not what he owes, but by reflection ; 
As when his virtues shining upon others 
Heat them, and they retort that heat again 
To the first giver. ' 26 — iii. 3. 

105 Tlic same. 

The beauty that is borne here in the face, 
The bearer knows not, but commends itself 
To others' eyes ; nor doth the eye itself 
(That most pure spirit of sense) behold itself, 
Not going from itself; but eye to eye opposed 

* Courts of equity. 

t Who has so virtuous a breast, that some impure conceptions 
will not sometimes enter into it : hold a session there as in a regu- 
lar court, and ' benrh by the side' of authorised and lawful thoughts? 
Rom. vii. 18 — 24. Prov. v. 14. % Are of a piece with them. 

' § Growling. j| Excellently endowed. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 21 

Salutes each other with each other's form, 

For speculation turns not to itself, 

Till it hath travelled, and is married there, 

Where it may see itself. 26 — iii. 3. 

106 The same. 

No man is the lord of any thing 
(Though in and of him there be much consisting 1 ), 
Till he communicate his parts to others : 
Nor doth he of himself know them for aught, 
Till he behold them form'd in the applause, 
Where they 're extended ; which, like an arch, rever- 
berates 
The voice again ; or, like a gate of steel, 
Fronting the sun, receives and renders back 
His figure and his heat. 26 — iii. 3. 

107 Man not to be a slave to sense. 

What is a man, 
If his chief good, and market* of his time, 
Be but to sleep, and feed 1 a beast, no more. 
Sure, He, that made us with such large discourse,! 
Looking before, and after, gave us not 
That capability and godlike reason 
To fustj in us unused. 36 — iv. 4. 

108 Trifling with Time. 

We play the fools with the time ; and the spirits of 
the wise sit in the clouds, and mock us. 19 — ii. 2. 

109 Posthumous fame. 

If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere 
he dies, he shall live no longer in monument than the 
bell rings, and the widow weeps, 6 — v. 2. 

110 Adversity, its effects. 

Ah ! when the means are gone, that buy this praise, 
The breath is gone whereof this praise is made : 
Fast w 7 on — fast lost ; one cloud of winter showers, 
These flies are couched. 27 — ii. 2. 

* Profit. f Power of comprehension. J Grow mouldy. 



22 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

111 Silent eloquence. 

Love, and tongue-tied simplicity, 
In least, speak most, to my capacity. 7 — v. 1. 

112 Extremity. 

The worst is not, 
So long as we can say, This is the worst. 34 — iv. 1. 

113 Mind ilie test of man. 

'Tis the mind that makes the body rich ; 
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, 
So honour peereth* in the meanest habit. 
What, is the jay more precious than the lark, 
Because his feathers are more beautiful 1 
Or is the adder better than the eel, 
Because his painted skin contents the eye 1 

12— iv. 3. 

114 Cultivation and Sterility. 

Our bodies are our gardens ; to the which, our 
wills are gardeners : so that if we will plant nettles, 
or sow lettuce ; set hyssop, and weed up thyme ; 
supply it with one gender of herbs, or distract it with 
many ; either to have it sterile with idleness, or ma- 
nured with industry ; why, the power and corrigible 
authority of this lies in our wills. If the balance of 
our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another 
of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures 
would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions. 

37—i. 3. 

115 REsconception of motives. 

I am in this earthly world ; where, to do harm, 

Is often laudable ; to do good, sometime, 

Accounted dangerous folly. 15 — iv. 2. 

116 Pretended courtesy. 

Let the subject see, to make them know, 
That outward courtesies would fain proclaim 
Favours that keep within.f 5 — v. 1. 

* Appeareth. 

t Then only shows of kindness have their worth, 

When outward courtesies truly declare 

The heart that keeps within. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 23 

117 Merit, its value. 

Who shall go about 
To cozen fortune, and be honourable 
Without the stamp of merit ! Let none presume 
To wear an undeserved dignity. 9 — ii. 9. 

118 Merit, too often unrewarded. 

O, that estates, degrees, and offices, 

Were not derived corruptly ! and that clear honour 

Were purchased by the merit of the wearer ! 

How many then should cover, that stand bare ! 

How many be commanded, that command ! 

How much low peasantry would then be glean'd 

From the true seed of honour I and how much honour 

Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times, 

To be new varnish'd ! 9 — ii. 9. 

119 Mercy, the fairest virtue. 

No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, 

Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, 

The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, 

Become them with one half so good a grace, 

As mercy does. 5 — ii. 2. 

120 Capriciousness of fortune. . 

Will fortune never come with both hands full, 
But write her fair words still in foulest letters 1 
She either gives a stomach, and no food, — 
Such are the poor, in health ; or else a feast, 
And takes away the stomach, — such are the rich, 
That have abundance, and enjoy it not. 19 — iv. 4. 

121 The power of prejudice. 

There may be in the cup 
A spider steep'd, and one may drink ; depart, 
And yet partake no venom ; for his knowledge 
Is not infected ; but if one present 
The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known 
How he hath drank, he cracks his gorge, his sides, 
With violent hefts.* 13— ii. 1. 

* Heavings. 



24 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

122 Court and country manners. 

Those, that are good manners at the court, are 
as ridiculous in the country, as the behaviour of the 
country is most mockable at the court. 10 — iii. 2. 

1 23 Precept and Example. 

If to do were as easy as to know what were good 
to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's 
cottages, princes' palaces. It is a good divine that 
follows his own instructions : I can easier teach 
twenty what were good to be done, than be one of 
the twenty to follow mine own teaching.* The brain 
may devise laws, for the blood; but a hot temper 
leaps over a cold decree ; such a hare is madness the 
youth, to skip over the meshes of good counsel the 
cripple. , 9 — i. 2. 

124 Labour sweetens leisure. 

If all the year were playing holidays, 

To sport would be as tedious as to work; 

But when they seldom come, they wish'd-for come, 

And nothing pleaseth but rare accident. 18 — i. 2. 

125 Calumny, universal. 

No might nor greatness in mortality 
Can censure 'scape ; back- wounding calumny 
The whitest virtue strikes : What king so strong, 
Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue 1 

5 — iii. 2„ 

126 Disease, its effects. 

Before the curing of a strong disease, 
Even in the instant of repair and health, 
The fit is strongest; evils, that take leave, 
On their departure most of all show evil. 

16— iii. 4. 

127 Ceremony, its origin. 

Ceremony 
Was but devised at first, to set a gloss 
On faint deeds, hollow welcomes, 
Recanting goodness, sorry ere 'tis shown ; 
But where there is true friendship, there needs none. 

27— i. 2. 

* John xiii. 17. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



25 



128 Public justice. 

Thieves are not judged, but they are by to hear, 
Although apparent guilt be seen in them. 17 — iv. 1. 

129 Promises and Performances. 

Promising is the very air o' the time : it opens the 
eyes of expectation : performance is ever the duller for 
his act ; and, but in the plainer and simpler kind of 
people, the deed of saying is quite out of use. To 
promise is most courtly and fashionable : performance 
is a kind of will, or testament, which argues a great 
sickness in his judgment that makes it. 27 — v. 1. 

130 Pleasure of ten preceded by labour. 

There be some sports are painful ; but their labour 
Delight in them sets off; some kinds of baseness 
Are nobly undergone ; and most poor matters 
Point to rich ends. 1 — iii. 1. 

131 Lenity and Cruelty. 

When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the 
gentler gamester is the soonest winner. 20 — iii. 6. 

132 Posthumous good and evil. 

The evil, that men do, lives after them ; 
The good is oft interred with their bones. 

29— iii. 2. 

133 Love and Fear. 

Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear ; 
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there. 

36— iii. 2. 

134 Adoption. 

'Tis often seen, 
Adoption strives with nature ; and choice breeds 
A native slip to us from foreign seeds. 11 — i. 3. 

135 Patience and Cowardice compared. 

That which in mean men we entitle — patience, 

Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts. 17 — i. 2. 

136 Crisis. 

Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward 
To what they were before. 15 — iv. 2. 

3 



26 MORAL PHILOSOrHY. 

137 Arrogance. 

Shall the proud lord, 
That bastes his arrogance with his own seam,* 
And never suffers matter of the world 
Enter his thoughts, — save such as do revolve 
And ruminate himself, — shall he be worshipped 
Of that we hold an idol more than he T 26 — ii. 3. 

138 Authority. 

Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar"? 
And the creature run from the cur? 
There thou migbt'st behold the great image of au- 
thority : a dog's obeyed in office. 34 — iv. 6. 

139 Human nature. 

Strange is it, that our bloods, 
Of colour, weight, and heat, pour'd all together, 
Would quite confound distinction, yet stand off 
In differences so mighty. 11 — ii. 3. 

140 Obedience lo Princes. 

The hearts of princes kiss obedience, 

So much they love it; but, to stubborn spirits, 

They swell, and grow as terrible as storms. 

25— iii. 1. 

141 Fickleness. 

What our contempts do often hurl from us, 

We wish it ours again ; the present pleasure, 

By revolution lowering,! does become 

The opposite of itself. 30 — i. 2. 

142 The ill effects of neglected duty. 

Those wounds heal ill that men do give themselves : 

Omission to do what is necessary! 

Seals a commission to a blank of danger ; 

And danger, like an ague, subtly taints 

Even then when we sit idly in the sun. 26 — iii. 3. 

*Fat. 

t i e. Change of circumstances, that is, ' the pleasure of to-day by 
revolution of events, and change of circumstances, often loses ail 
its value to us, and becomes to-morrow a pain.' 

1 By neglecting our duty, we commission or enable that danger of 
dishonoiLr which could not reach us before, to lay hold upon us. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 27 

143 Connivance. 
Pardon, purchased by such sin, 

For which the pardoner himself is in : 

Hence hath offence his quick celerity, 

When it is born in high authority : 

When vice makes mercy, mercy's so extended, 

That for the fault's love, is the offender friended. 

5— iv. 2. 

144 The advantage of caution. 

Thing's, done well, 
And with a care, exempt themselves from fear : 
Things, done without example, in their issue 
Are to be fear'd. 25 — L 2. 

145 Virtue unsullied. 

O infinite virtue ! com'st thou smiling from 

The world's great snare uncaught 1 30 — iv. 8. 

146 Flattery, its evil. 

He does me double wrong, 
That wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue. 

17— iii. 2. 

147 Wisdom, superior to Fortune. 
Wisdom and fortune combating together, 
If that the former dare but what it can, 

No change may shake it. 30 — iii. 11. 

148 Calamity lightened by fortitude. 

He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears 
But the free comfort, which from thence he hears : 
But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow, 
That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow. 

37—i.3. 

149 Adversity, the test of character. 

In the reproof of chance 
Lies the true proof of men. The sea being smooth, 
How many shallow bauble boats dare sail 
Upon her patient breast, making their way 
With those of nobler bulk 1 
But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage 
The gentle Thetis,* and anon, behold 

* The daughter of Neptune. 



28 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut, 

Bounding between the two moist elements, 

Like Perseus' horse : Where's then the saucy boat, 

Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now 

Co-rivall'd greatness? either to harbour fled, 

Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so 

Doth valour's show, and valour's worth, divide, 

In storms of fortune : For, in her ray and brightness, 

The herd hath more annoyance by the brize,* 

Than by the tiger : but when the splitting wind 

Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks, 

And flies fled under shade, why, then the thing of 

courage,! 
As roused with rage, with rage doth sympathise, 
And with an accent tuned in self-same key, 
Returns to chiding fortune. 26 — i. 3. 

150 Determinations of Anger. 

What to ourselves in passion we propose, 
The passion ending doth the purpose lose. 

36— iii. 2. 

151 Authority. 

O place ! O form ! 
How often dost thou with thy case,| thy habit, 
Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls 
To thy false seeming 1 5 — ii. 4. 

152 False valour. 

What valour were it, when a cur doth grin, 
For one to thrust his hand between his teeth, 
When he might spurn him with his foot away ? 

23— i. 4. 

153 Self -praise no commendation. 

The worthiness of praise distains his worth, 
If that the praised himself bring the praise forth : 
But what the repining enemy commends, 
That breath fame follows; that praise, sole pure, 
transcends. § 26 — i. 3. 

* The gad-fly that stings cattle. 

lit is said of the tiger, that in storms and high winds he rages 
and roars most furiously. 
J Outside. § Prov. xxvii.2. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 29 

154 Ambition. 

Dreams, indeed, are ambition ; for the very sub- 
stance of the ambitious is mere]y the shadow of a 
dream. And I hold ambition of so airy and light a 
quality, that it is but a shadow's shadow. 

36— ii. 2. 

155 Foolery. 

A gibing" spirit, 
Whose influence is begot of that loose grace, 
Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools. 

8— v. 2. 

156 Tried fidelity. 

He that can endure 
To follow with allegiance a fallen lord, 
Does conquer him that did his master conquer, 
And earns a place i' the story. 30 — iii. 11. 

157 Danger of exaltation. 

Our virtues 
Lie in the interpretation of the time ; 
And power, unto itself most commendable, 
Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair 
To extol what it hath done.* 28— iv. 7. 

158 False comfort. 

Men 
Can counsel, and speak comfort to that grief, 
Which they themselves not feel ; but tasting it, 
Their counsel turns to passion, which before 
Would give preceptial medicine to rage, 
Fetter strong madness in a silken thread, 
Charm ache with air, and agony with words : 
No, no ; 'tis all men's office to speak patience 
To those that wring under the load of sorrow ; 
But no man's virtue, nor sufficiency, 
To be so moral, when he shall endure 
The like himself. 6— v. 1 

159 Theory and Practice 
There was never yet philosopher, 

That could endure the toothache patiently; 

*That is, exaltation, by exciting envy, often is the grave of power, 
and sinks fame in oblivion. 

3 * 



30 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

However, they have writ the style of gods,* 

And made a pish at chance and sufferance. 6 — v. 1. 

160 Cold friendship. 

Thou dost conspire against thy friend, 

If thou but think'st him wrong'd, and mak'st his ear 

A stranger to thy thoughts. 37 — iii. 3. 

161 Deceptive obedience. 

It is the curse of kings to be attended 
By slaves, that take their humours for a warrant ; — 
And, on the winking of authority, 
To understand a law ; to know the meaning 
Of dangerous majesty, when, perchance, it frowns 
More upon humour than advised respect. 16 — iv. 2. 

162 Prudence. 

Who buys a minute's mirth, to wail a week 1 
Or sells eternity to get a toy 1 
For one sweet grape, who will the vine destroy 1 
Or what, fond beggar, but to touch the crown, 
Would with the sceptre straight be strucken down ? 

Poems. 

163 AulJwrity. 

Authority, though it err like others, 
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself, 
That skins the vice o' the top. 5 — ii. 2. 

164 The power of conscience. 

A wicked conscience — 
Mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy thoughts. 

5 26_v. 11. 

165 Superfluous excess. 

To be possess'd with double pomp, 
To guardf a title that was rich before, 
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, 
To throw a perfume on the violet, 
To smooth the ice, or add another hue 

* The style of gods, means, an exalted language ; such as we may 
suppose would be written by beings superior to human calamities, 
and therefore regarding them with neglect and coldness. 

t Lace. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 31 

Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light 

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, 

Is wasteful, and ridiculous excess. 16 — iv. 2. 

166 Kings, but men. 

The king is but a man, as I am : the violet smells 
to him, as it doth to me ; the element shows to him, 
as it doth to me ; all his senses have but human con- 
ditions:* his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he 
appears but a man ; and though his affections are 
higher mounted than ours, yet, when they stoop, 
they stoop with the like wing. 20 — iv. 1. 

167 Men often blind to their faults. 

Men's faults do seldom to themselves appear, 
Their own transgressions partially they smother : 
O ! how are they wrapt in with infamies, 
That from their own misdeeds askance their eyes ! 

Poems. 

168 God's vengeance on the wicked. 

There is no king, be his cause never so spotless, if 
it come to the arbitrement of swords, can try it out 
with all unspotted soldiers. Some, perad venture, 
have on them the guilt of premeditated and contrived 
murder ; some of beguiling virgins with the broken 
seal of perjury ; some, making the wars their bul- 
wark, that have before gored the gentle bosom of peace 
with pillage and robbery. Now, if these men have 
defeated the law, and outrun native punishment, 
though they can outstrip men, they have no wings to 
fly from God:f war is his beadle, war is his ven- 
geance ; so that here men are punished, for before- 
breach of the king's laws, in now the king's quarrel : 
where they feared the death, they have borne life 
away ; and, where they would be safe, they perish. J 
Then, if they die unprovided, no more is the king 
guilty of their damnation, than he was before guilty 
of those impieties for the which they are now visited. 
Every subject's duty is the king's ; but every subject's 
soul is his own. 20 — iv. 1. 

* Qualities. 

t Isa. x. &c, that is, punishment in their native country. 

j Matt. x. 39, and xvi. 25. 



32 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

169 Man different only in exterior. 

Though mean and mighty, rotting 

Together, have one dust ; yet reverence* 

(That angel of the world) doth make distinction 

Of place 'tween high and low. 31 — iv. 2. 

170 Death, common to all. 

Kings, and mightiest potentates, must die ; 

For that's the end of human misery. 21 — iii. 2. 

171 Unwelcome news, thankless. 

The first bringer of unwelcome news 

Hath but a losing office ; and his tongue 

Sounds ever after as a sullen bell, 

Remember'd knolling a departing friend. 19 — i. 1. 

172 Prevention. 

As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent, 

In my opinion, ought to be prevented. 24 — ii. 2. 

173 Death. 

Nothing can we call our own, but death ; 
And that small model of the barren earth, 
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones. 

17— iii. 2. 

174 Conflict of Grace. 

The flesh being proud, Desire doth fight with Grace, 

For there it revels, and when that decays, 

The guilty rebel for remission prajs. Poems. 

175 The failure of Hope. 

The ample proposition, that hope makes 

In all designs begun on earth below, 

Fails in the promised largeness : checks and disasters 

Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd : 

As knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, 

Infect the sound pine, and divert his grain 

Tortive and errant from his course of growth. 



* Reverence, or due regard to subordination, is the power that 
keeps peace and order in the world. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 33 

Why then 
Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works ; 
And think them shames, which are, indeed, nought 

else 
But the protractive trials of great Jove, 
To find persistive constancy in men 1 
The fineness of which metal is not found 
In fortune's love ; for then, the bold and coward, 
The wise and fool, the artist and unread, 
The hard and soft, seem all affined* and kin : 
But, in the wind and tempest of her frown, 
Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan, 
Puffing at all, winnows the light away ; 
And what hath mass, or matter, by itself 
Lies, rich in virtue, and unmingled. 26 — i. 3. 

176 Virtue and Knowledge. 

I held it ever, 
Virtue and cunningf were endowments greater 
Than nobleness and riches : careless heirs 
May the two latter darken and expend ; 
But immortality attends the former, 
Making a man a god. 33 — iii. 2. 

177 Glory and Wealth, their temptation. 

O, the fierce^ wretchedness that glory brings us ! 
Who would not wish to be from wealth exempt, 
Since riches point to misery and contempt 1 
Who 'd be so mock'd with glory 1 or to live 
But in a dream of friendship 1 
To have his pomp, and all what state compounds, 
But only painted, like his varnish'd friends 1 

27— iv. 2. 

178 Office. 

'Tis the curse of service ; 
Preferment goes by letter, § and affection, 
Not by the old gradation, || where each second 
Stood heir to the first. 37 — i. 1. 

* Joined by affinity. f Knowledge. J Hasty, precipitate. 

§ By recommendation from powerful friends. 
f Gradation, established by ancient practice. 



34 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

179 Grief. 

Grief boundeth where it falls, 
Not with the empty hollo wness, but weight* 

17— i. 2. 

180 Misconstruction. 

Men may construe things after their fashion, 
Cleanf from the purpose of the things themselves. 

29— i. 3. 

181 Poverty and Riches. 

Poor and content, is rich, and rich enough ;| 

But riches, fineless,§ is as poor as winter, || 

To him that ever fears he shall be poor. 37 — iii. 3. 

182 Disguise. 

Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness, 

Wherein the pregnantlT enemy does much. 4 — ii. 2. 

183 Nature, its weakness. 

Strange it is, 
That nature must compel us to lament 
Our most persisted deeds. 30 — v. 1. 

184 Judgment governed by circumstances. 

Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; 
Robes, and furr'd gowns, hide all. Plate sin with 

gold, 
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks : 
Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw doth pierce it. 

34— iv. 6. 

185 \irtue. 

Virtue, that transgresses, is but patched with sin ; 
and sin, that amends, is but patched with virtue. 

4— i. 5. 

186 Human nature. 

The first time that we smell the air, 
We wawl and cry : 

* That is, no griefs, evidently affected, have a sympathetic influ- 
ence by reaction upon others. The conceit is from a ball con- 
trasted to a bladder. f Entirely. 

X ' I have learned in whatever state,' &c— Phil. iv. 11. 

§ Endless, unbounded. \\ Winter, producing no fruits. 

IT Dexterous, ready fiend. _ 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



35 



When we are bom, we cry, that we are come 

To this great stage of fools. 34 — iv. 6. 

187 Vicissitudes of life. 

Sometimes, hath the brightest day a cloud : 
And, after summer, evermore succeeds 
Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold ; 
So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet. 22 — ii. 4. 

183 7'Ae camomile and youth contrasted. 

Though the camomile, the more it is trodden on, the 
faster it grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted the 
sooner it wears. 18 — ii. 4» 

189 Pride, its effects. 

Two curs shall tame each other : Pride alone 
Must tarre* the mastiffs on, as 'twere their bone. 

26— i. 3. 

190 Men, their various characters. 

O heavens, what some men do, 
While some men leave to do ! 
How some men oreep in skittish Fortune's hall, 
While others play the idiots in her eyes I 
How one man eats into another's pride, 
While pride is fasting in his wantonness ! 26 — iii. 3. 

191 Contentment, its happiness. 

'Tis better to be lowly born, 
And range with humble livers in content, 
Than to be perk'd up in a glistering grief, 
And wear a golden sorrow. '25— ii. 3, 

192 Humility, feigned. 

'Tis a common proof f 
That lowliness is young Ambition's ladder, 
Whereto the climber upward turns his face \ 
But when he once attains the upmost round, 
He then unto the ladder turns his back, 
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degreesj 
By which he did ascend. 29 — ii. 1. 

* Provoke. t Experience. J. Low steps. 



36 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

193 Parental discipline neglected. 

Had doting 1 Priam check'd his son's desire, 

Troy had been bright with fame, and not with fire.* 

1 94 Deceiver of Females. 

How easy is it for the proper-falsef 

In women's waxen hearts to set their forms ! 4 — ii. 2. 

195 Stubbornness of mind. 

To wilful men, 
The injuries, that they themselves procure, 
Must be their schoolmasters. 34 — ii. 4. 

196 Prayers insincere, ineffectual. 

The gods are deaf to hot and peevish J vows; 
They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd 

Than spotted livers in the sacrifice. 

It is the purpose, that makes strong the vow ; 
But vows, to every purpose, must not hold.§ 

197 Determination with consideration. 

What we do determine, oft we break. 
Purpose is but the slave to memory ; 
Of violent birth, but poor validity : 
Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree ; 
But fall, unshaken, when they mellow be. 36 — iii. 2. 

198 Blessings underrated. 

It so falls out, 
That what we have we prize not to the worth, 
Whiles|| we enjoy it; but being lack'd and lost, 
Why, then we racklT the value ; then we find 
The virtue, that possession would not show us 
Whiles it was ours. 6 — iv. 1. 

199 Mediocrity of life. 

Full oft 'tis seen 
Our mean** secures us ; and our mere defects 
Prove our commodities. 34 — iv. 1. 

* 1 Sam, iii. 12, 13. t Fair deceiver. 

I Foolish. § Eccles. v. 4, 5. \\ While. 

!T Over-rate. ** Mean signifies a middle state. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 37 

200 Disinterestedness. 

Never any thing can be amiss, 
When simpleness and duty tender it. 7 — v. 1. 

201 Mental passions, their effects. 

The passions of the mind, 
That have their first conception by mis-dread, 
Have after-nourishment and life by care ; 
And what was first but fear what might be done,* 
Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.f 

33— i. 2. 

202 Disquietude. 

Care is no cure, but rather corrosive, 

For things that are not to be remedied. 21 — iii. 3. 

203 Exaltation, its danger. 

They that stand high, have many blasts to shake 

them ; 
And, if they fall, thev dash themselves to pieces. 

24— i. 3. 

204 Mercy pretended. 

Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so ; 

Pardon is still the nurse of second woe. 5—ii. 1. 

205 Treason and murder, handmaids. 

Treason and murder ever kept together, 
As two yoke-devils sworn to either,s purpose. 

20— ii. 2. 

206 Retributive justice. 

We still have judgment here ; that we but teach 
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return 
To plague the inventor : This even-handed justice 
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice 
To our own lips. 15 — i. 7. 

207 Mischief. 

O mischief ! thou art swift 
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men ! 

35— v. 1. 

* But fear of what may happen. 

t And makes provision that it may not be done. 



38 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



208 Ambition. 



Ambition pufFd, 
Makes mouths at the invisible event; 
Exposing what is mortal and unsure, 
To all that fortune, death, and danger, dare, 
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great, 
Is, not to stir without great argument. 36 — iv\ 4. 

209 Anger, its mitigation. 

Who cannot condemn rashness in cold blood 1 

To kill, I grant, is sin's extremest gust ;* 

But, in defence, by mercy, 'tis most just.f 

To be in anger, is impiety ; 

But who is man, that is not angry ? 27 — iii. 5. 

210 Corporal sufferings. 

The poor beetle, that we tread upon, 
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great 
As when a giant dies. 5 — iii. 1. 

211 The past and future. 

O thoughts of men accurst ! 
Past, and to come, seem best ; things present, worst. 

19— i. 3. 

212 Life its character. 

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 

To the last syllable of recorded time ; 

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle ! 

Life's but a walking shadow ; a poor player, 

That, struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 

And then is heard no more : it is a tale 

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 

Signifying nothing. 15 — v. 5. 

213 Content and Discontent. 

Willing misery 
Outlives incertain pomp, is crown'd before :\ 
The one is filling still, never complete ; 

* For aggravation. 

t Homicide in our own defence, by a merciful interposition of the 
law, is considered justifiable. 
\ i.e. Arrives sooner at the completion of its wishes. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 39 

The other, at high wish. Best state, contentless, 

Hath a distracted and most wretched being, 

Worse than the worst, content.* 27 — iv. 3. 

214 Treason, silent in its operations. 

Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep ; 
And in his simple show he harbours treason. 
The fox barks not, when he would steal the lamb. 

22— iii. 1. 

215 Malice its extent. 

To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs ; 
Like wrath in death, and envyf afterwards. 

29— ii. 1. 

216 The value of a good name. 

Good name, in man, and woman, 

Is the immediate jewel of their souls :| 

Who steals my purse, steals trash ; 'tis something', 

nothing ; 
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands : 
But he, that filches from me my good name, 
Robs me of that, which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed. 37 — iii. 3. 

217 Slander, certain in its aim. 

Slander, — 
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, 
As level as the cannon to his blank,§ 
Transports his poison'd shot. 36 — iv. 1. 

218 Peasant, and courtier. 

The age is grown so picked, || that the toe of the 
peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he 
galls his kibe. 36 — v. 1. 

219 A tide in human life. 

There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shallows, and in miseries : 

* Best states contentless have a wretched being — a being worse 
than that of the worst states that are content, 
t Malice. J Prov. xxii. 1. § Mark. || Spruce, affected. 



40 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

And we must take the current when it serves, 

Or lose our ventures. 29 — iv. 3. 

220 Fortune. 

When fortune means to men most good, 
She looks upon them with a threatening eye. 

F 16-iii. 4. 

221 Natural defects impair virtues. 

Oft it chances in particular men, 

That, for some vicious mole of nature in them, 

As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty, 

Since nature cannot choose his origin,) 

By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,* 

Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason; 

Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens 

The form of plausive manners ;~ that these men, — 

Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect ; 

Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,f — 

Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace, 

As infinite as man may undergo) 

Shall in the general censure take corruption 

From that particular fault : The dram of base 

Doth all the noble substance often dout,| 

To his own scandal. § 36 — i. 4. 

222 Insolence of poioer. 

Now breathless Wrong 
Shall sit and pant in your great chairs of ease ; 
And pursy Insolence shall break his wind, 
With fear and horrid flight. 27 — v. 5. 

223 Riches not true which are to be courted. 

Conceit, || more rich in matter than in words, 

Brags of his substance, not of ornament : 

They are but beggars that can count their worth. 

35— ii. 6. 

224 Natural affection. 

A grandam's name is little less in love, 

Than is the doting title of a mother ; 

They are as children, but one step below. 24 — iv. 4. 

* Humour. f Star, signifies a scar of that appearance. 

J Do out. § Eccles. x. 4. || Imagination. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 41 

225 Pride's mirror. 

Pride hath no other glass 
To show itself but pride ; for supple knees 
Feed arrogance, and are the proud man's fees. 

26— iii. 3. 

226 Neglect of departed friends. 

As we do turn our backs 
From our companion, thrown into his grave ; 
So his familiars to his buried fortunes 
Slink all away ; leave their false vows with him, 
Like empty purses pick'd : and his poor self, 
A dedicated beggar to the air, 
With his disease of all-shunn'd poverty, 
Walks, like contempt, alone. 27 — iv. 2. 

227 Decay of pomp. 

Vast confusion waits 
(As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast) 
The imminent decay of wrested pomp.* 16 — iv. 3. 

228 Love, the display of 

The ostentf of our love, which, left unshown, 

Is often left unloved. 30 — iii. 6. 

229 Sufferings softened by sympathy. 

When we our betters .see bearing our woes, 
We scarcely think our miseries our foes. 
Who alone suffers, suffers most i' the mind ; 
Leaving free things,! ana " happy shows, behind : 
But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip, 
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship. 

34— iii. 6. 

230 Infirmity, its effects. 

Infirmity doth still neglect all office, 
Whereto our health is bound ; we are not ourselves, 
When nature, being oppress'd, commands the mind, 
To suffer with the body. 34 — ii. 4. 

231 The power of melancholy. 
O hateful Error, Melancholy's child ! 

* Greatness arrested from its possessor. 

f Show, token \ States clear from distress. 

4* 



42 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men 
The tilings that are not ? O Error, soon conceived, 
Thou never com'st unto a happy birth, 
But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee. 

29— v. 3. 

232 Truth and Beauty, their excellence. 
Truth needs no colour, with his colour fix'd ; 
Beauty no pencil, beauty's truth to lay ; 

But best is best, if never intermixed. Poems. 

233 Man values only what he sees and knows. 

'Tis very pregnant,* 
The jewel that we find, we stoop and take it, 
Because we see it ; but what we do not see, 
We tread upon, and never think of it. 5 — ii. 1. 

234 Friendship with the wicked, dangerous. 
The love of wicked friends converts to fear ; 
That fear, to hate ; and hate turns one, or both, 

To worthy danger, and deserved death. 17 — v. 1. 

235 Earth, Nature's mother. 

The earth, that's nature's mother, is her tomb ; 

What is her burying grave, that is her womb : 

And from her womb, children of divers kind, 

We sucking on her natural bosom find ; 

Many for many virtues excellent, 

None but for some, and yet all different. 35 — ii. 3. 

236 Nature, oft perverted by man. 
O, mickle is the powerful grace, f that lies 

In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities : 
For nought so vile, that on the earth doth live, 
But to the earth| some special good doth give ; 
Nor aught so good, but, strain'd from that fair use, 
Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse : 
Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied ; 
And vice sometime's by actions dignified. 35 — ii. 3. 

237 Good and evil mixed. 
Within the infant rind of this small flower 
Poison hath residence, and med'cine power : 

* Plain. f Virtue. { i.e. To the inhabitants of the earth. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 43 

For this being smelt, with that part cheers each part ; 

Being- tasted, slays all senses with the heart. 

Two such opposed foes encamp them still 

In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will ;- 

And, where the worser is predominant, 

Full soon the canker death eats up that plant. 

35— ii. 3. 

238 Real happiness, where chiefly found. 

They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as 
they that starve with nothing: It is no mean happi- 
ness, therefore, to be seated in the mean ; superfluity 
comes sooner* by white hairs, but competency lives 
longer. 9 — i. 2. 

239 Ambition and content. 
Thoughts tending to Ambition, they do plot 
Unlikely wonders. * * * * 
Thoughts tending to Content, flatter themselves, — 
That they are not the first of fortune's slaves, 
Nor shall not be the last ; like silly beggars, 
Who, sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame, 
That many have, and others must sit there :f 
And in this thought they find a kind of ease, 
Bearing their own misfortune on the back 

Of such as have before endured the like. 17 — v. 5. 

240 Misguided expectations. 

How mightily, sometimes, we make us comforts of 
our losses ! And how mightily, some other times, we 
drown our gain in tears ! 11 — iv. 3. 

241 Timidity, incapable of adventure. 
Impossible be strange attempts, to those 

That weigh their pains in sense ; and do suppose, 
What hath been cannot be. J 11 — i- 1- 

242 The love of life. 

O our lives' sweetness ! 
That with the pain of death we'd hourly die, 
Rather than die at once ! 34 — v. 3. 

* Sooner comes, sooner acquires, becomes old. t Exod. xxiii. 2. 

I New attempts seem impossible to those wbo estimate their la- 
bour or enterprises by sense, and believe that nothing can be but 
what thev see before them. 



44 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

243 Example. 

'Tis good for men to love their present pains, 
Upon example ; so the spirit is eased : 
And, when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt, 
The organs, though defunct and dead before, 
Break up their drowsy grave, and newly move 
With casted slough and fresh legerity.* 20 — iv. 1. 

244 Energy. 
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, 
Which we ascribe to heaven : the fated sky 
Gives us free scope ; only, doth backward pull 
Our slow designs, when we ourselves are dull. 

11— i. 1. 

245 Fortitude in trials. 

Wise men ne'er sit and wail their loss, 

But cheerly seek how to redress their harms, 

What though the mast be now blown over-board, 

The cable broke, the holding anchor lost, 

And half our sailors swallow'd in the flood 1 

Yet lives our pilot still : Is't meet, that he 

Should leave the helm, and, like a fearful lad, 

With tearful eyes, add water to the sea, 

And give more strength to that which hath too much ; 

Whiles, in his moan, the ship splits on the rock, 

Which industry and courage might have saved 1 

23— v. 4. 

246 Grief unavailing. 

When remedies are past, the griefs are ended, 
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended. 
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone, 
Is the next way to draw new mischief on. 
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes, 
Patience her injury a mockery makes. [thief; 

The robb'd, that smiles, steals something from the 
He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief. 

37— i. 3. 

247 Self-exertion. 

Men at some time are masters of their fates ; 

The fault is not in our stars, 
But in ourselves. 29 — i. 2. 

* Lightness, nimbleness. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 45 

248 Delays dangerous. 

That we would do, 
We should do when we would ; for this would changes, 
And hath abatements and delays as many, 
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents ; 
And then this should is like a spendthrift's sigh, 
That hurts by easing. 36 — iv. 7. 

249 Patience. 

How poor are they, that have not patience ! — 
What wound ever did heal, but by degrees 1 

37— ii. 3. 

250 Evils, wrongly ascribed to Heaven. 

This is the excellent foppery of the world ! that 
when we are sick in fortune (often the surfeit of our 
own behaviour), we make guilty of our disasters, the 
sun, the moon, and the stars : as if we were villains 
by necessity ; fools by heavenly compulsion ; knaves, 
thieves, and treachers,* by spherical predominance ; 
drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedi- 
ence of planetary influence ; and all that we are evil 
in, by a divine thrusting on.f 34 — i. % 

251 Death. 

How oft, when men are at the point of death, 
Have they been merry ] which their keepers! call 
A lightning before death. 35 — v. 3. 

252 The influence of infection. 

They that have power to hurt and will do none, 
That do not do the thing they most do show, 
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, 
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow ; 
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces, 
And husband nature's riches from expense ; 
They are the lords and owners of their faces, 
Others but stewards of their excellence. 
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet, 
Though to itself it only live and die; 
But if that flower with base infection meet, 
The basest weed outbraves his dignity : 

* Traitors. f James i. 13, 14. t Attendants. 



46 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds ; 

Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds. 

Poems. 

253 Prediction. 

Against ill chances, men are ever merry ; 

But heaviness foreruns the good event.* 19 — iv. 2. 

254 Experience. 

Our own precedent passions do instruct us 

What levity's in youth. 27— i. 1. 

255 Distrust. 

Our doubts are traitors, 
And make us lose the good we oft might win, 
By fearing to attempt. 5 — i. 5. 

256 Decaying nature of Love. 

There lives within the very flame of love 

A kind of wick, or snuff, that will abate it ; 

And nothing is at a like goodness still ; 

For goodness, growing to a pleurisy, 

Dies in his own too-much. 36 — iv. 7. 

257 Time produces ingratitude. 

Time hath a wallet at his back, 

Wherein he puts alms for oblivion, 

A great-sized monster of ingratitudes ; 

Those scraps are good deeds past ; which are devour'd 

As fast as they are made, forgot as soon 

As done : Perseverance 

Keeps honour bright : To have done, is to hang 

Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail 

In monumental mockery. 26 — iii. 3 

258 The present opportunity to he taken. 

Take the instant way ; 
For honour travels in a straight so narrow, 
Where one but goes abreast : keep then the path ; 
For emulation hath a thousand sons, 
That one by one pursue: If you give way, 
Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, 

* Careless gayety is the forerunner of calamity ; vigilance, of suc- 
cess and permanent welfare. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 47 

Like to an enter'd tide, they all rush by, 

And leave you hindmost ; — 

Or, like a gallant horse fallen in first rank, 

Lie there for pavement to the abject rear, 

O'er-run and trampled on. 26 — iii. 3. 

259 Farewell and Welcome. 

Time is like a fashionable host, 

That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand ; 

And with his arms out-stretch'd, as he would fly, 

Grasps-in the comer : Welcome ever smiles, 

And farewell goes out sighing. 26 — iii. 3. 

260 The praise of Virtue consists in action. 

O, let not virtue seek 
Remuneration for the thing it was ! 
For beauty, wit, 

High birth, vigour of bone, desert in service, 
Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all 
To envious and calumniating time. 26 — iii. 3. 

261 Prevalence of appearances. 

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin, — 
That all, with one consent, praise new-born gawds,* 
Though they are made and moulded of things past; 
And give to dust, that is a little gilt, 
More laud than giltf o'er-dusted. 26 — iii. 3. 

262 Solemnity. 

All solemn things 
Should answer solemn accidents. 
Triumphs for nothing, and lamenting toys,| 
Is jollity for apes, and grief for boys. 31 — iv. 2. 

263 Prosperity and Adversity. 

Prosperity is the very bond of love ; 

Whose fresh complexion and whose heart together 

Affliction alters. 

One of these is true : 
I think affliction may subdue the cheek, 
But not take in the mind. 13 — iv. 3. 

* New-fashioned toys. t Gold. J Trifles. 



48 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

264 Refined Love. 

Nature is fine in love : and, where 'tis fine, 

It sends some precious instance of itself 

After the thing it loves.* 36 — iv. 5. 

265 The effects of Poverty and Riches. 

Twinn'd brothers of one womb, — 
Whose procreation, residence, and birth, 
Scarce is dividant, — touch them with several fortunes ; 
The greater scorns the lesser : Not nature, 
To whom all sores lay siege, can bear great fortune, 
But by contempt of nature. f 
Raise me this beggar, and denude that lord ; 
The senator shall bear contempt hereditary, 
The beggar native honour. 
It is the pasture lards the browser's sides, 
The want that makes him lean. 27 — iv. 3. 

266 Sarcasm. 

He, that a tool doth very wisely hit, 
Doth very foolishly, although he smart, 
Not to seem senseless of the bob : if not, 
The wise man's folly is anatomized 
Even by the squand'ring glances of the fool.} 

10— ii. 7. 

267 Wisdom and folly. 

To be generous, guiltless, and of free disposition, 
is to take those things for bird-bolts,§ that you deem 
cannon-bullets. There is no slander in an allowed 
fool, though he do nothing but rail ; nor no railing in 
a known discreet man, though he do nothing but re- 
prove. 4 — i. 5. 

* Love is the passion by which natureis most exalted and refined; 
and as substances refined and subtilized easily obey any impulse, 
or follow any attraction, some part of nature, so purified and re- 
fined, flies off" after the attracting object, after the thing it loves. 

f i. e. Human nature, besieged as it is by misery, admonished as it 
is of want and imperfection, when elevated by fortune, will despise 
beings of nature like its own. 

% Unless men have the prudence not to appear touched with the 
sarcasms of a jester, they subject themselves to his power; and the 
wise man will have his folly anatomized, i.e. dissected and laid open, 
by the squandering glances or random shots of a fool. 

§ Short arrows. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 49 

268 Jests. 

A jest's prosperity lies in the ear 

Of him that hears it, never in the tongue 

Of him that makes it. 8 — v. 2. 

269 Folly, its effects. 

None are so surely caught,* when they are catch'd, 

As wit turn'd fool : folly, in wisdom hatch'd, 

Hath wisdom's warrant, and the help of school ; 

And wit's bwn grace to grace a learned fool. 

The blood of youth burns not with such excess, 

As gravity's revolt to wantonness. 

Folly in fools bears not so strong a note, 

As foolery in the wise, when wit doth dote ; 

Since all the power thereof it doth apply, 

To prove, by wit, worth in simplicity. 8 — v. 2. 

270 Customs, new, heedlessly followed. 

New customs, 
Though they be never so ridiculous, 
Nay, let them be unmanly, yet are follow'd. 

25— i. 3. 

271 Fashion. 

Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity, 
(So it be new, there's no respect how vile,) 
That is not quickly buzz'd into the ears ? 17 — ii. 1. 

272 Hollow friendship. 

The great man down, you mark, his favourite flies ; 

The poor advanced makes friends of enemies. 

And hitherto doth love on fortune tend : 

For who not needs, shall never lack, a friend ; 

And who in want a hollow friend doth try, 

Directly seasons him his enemy. 36 — iii. 2. 

273 Melancholy. 

Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, 
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster '? 
Sleep, when he wakes 1 and creep into the jaundice 
By being peevish 1 9 — i. 1. 

* These are observations worthy of a man who has surveyed hu- 
man nature with the closest attention. 



50 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

274 Power, loss of it, is loss of homage. 

'Tis certain, greatness, once fallen out with fortune, 

Must fall out with men too : What the declined is, 

He shall as soon read in the eyes of others, 

As feel in his own fall: for men, like butterflies, 

Show not their mealy wings, but to the summer ; 

And not a man, for being simply man, 

Hath any honour ; but honour for those honours 

That are without him, as place, riches, favour, 

Prizes of accident as oft as merit : 

Which when they fall, as being slippery standers, 

The love that lean'd on them as slippery too, 

Do one pluck down another, and together 

Die in the fall. 26— iii. 3. 

275 Love, in its spring and in its maturity. 

My love is strengthen'd, though more weak in seem- 

I love not less, though less the show appear : [ing ; 

That love is merchandised, whose rich esteeming 

The owner's tongue doth publish every where. 

Our love was new, and then but in the spring, 

When I was wont to greet it with my lays ; 

As Philomel in summer's front doth sing, 

And stops his pipe in growth of riper days ; 

Not that the summer is less pleasant now 

Than when her mournful hymns did hush the night, 

But that wild music burdens every bough, 

And sweets grown common lose their dear delight. 

Poems. 

276 Conscience. 

Who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
The insolence of office, and the spurns 
That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 
When he himself might his quietus make 
With a bare bodkin 1 who would fardels bear, 
To grunt and sweat under a weary life ; 
But that the dread of something after death, — 
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn 
No traveller returns, — puzzles the will ; 
And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 
Than fly to others that we know not of? 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 51 

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all ; 

And thus the native hue of resolution 

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought ; 

And enterprises of great pith and moment, 

With this regard, their currents turn awry, 

And lose the name of action. 36 — iii. 1. 

277 Time. 

What's past, and what's to come, is strew'd with 

husks, 
And formless ruin of oblivion. 26 — iv. 5. 

278 Time, the effects of. 
Minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years, 
Pass'd over to the end they were created, 
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave. 

23— ii. 4. 

279 Mortality. 

There's nothing serious in mortality : 

All is but toys : renown, and grace, is dead. 

15— ii. 3. 

280 Bad courses. 

But by bad courses may be understood, 

That their events can never fall out good. 17 — ii. 1. 

281 Virtue preserved. 

Virtue preserved from fell destruction's blast, 
Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joy at last. 

34— v. 3. 

282 Riches cannot procure happiness for their possessors. 
The aged man that coffers up his gold, 

Is plagued with cramps, and gouts, and painful fits ; 
And scarce hath eyes his treasure to behold, 
But like still-pining Tantalus he sits, 
And useless barns the harvest of his wits ; 
Having no other pleasure of his gain, 
But torment that it cannot cure his pain. 
So then he hath it, when he cannot use it, 
And leaves it to be master'd by his young ; 
Who in their pride do presently abuse it ; 
Their father was too weak, and they too strong, 
To hold their cursed-blessed fortune long. 



52 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

The sweets we wish for turned to loathed sours, 
Even in the moment that we call them ours. 

Poems. 

283 The consequences of evil. 

We hid ill be done, 
When evil deeds have their permissive pass, 
And not the punishment. 5 — i. 4. 

284 Wisdom and Learning. 

Study is like the heaven's glorious sun, 

That will not be deepsearch'd with saucy looks ; 

Small have continual plodders ever won, 

Save base authority from others' books. 8 — i. 1. 

285 Over-studiousness. 

Universal plodding prisons up 

The nimble spirits in the arteries ; 

As motion, and long-during action, tires 

The sinewy vigour of the traveller. 8 — iv. 3. 

286 The effects of the want of judgment and taste. 

When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a 
man's good wit seconded with the forward child, Un- 
derstanding ; it strikes a man more dead than a great 
reckoning in a little room.* 10 — iii. 3. 

287 Affections not felt are disbelieved or despised. 

How sometimes nature will betray its folly, 

Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime 

To harder bosoms !f 13 — i. 2. 

288 Human nature. 

Cowards father cowards, and base things sire base : 
Nature hath meal, and bran ; contempt, and grace. 

31— iv. 2. 

* Implies, that the entertainment was mean, and the bill was ex- 
travagant. It is said by Rabelais, there was only one quarter of an 
hour in human life passed ill, and that was between the calling for 
the reckoning and the paying for it. 

t Smith's theory of moral sentiments shows, agreeably to Thu- 
cydides, that sentiments, when above the tone of others, reach not 
their sympathy. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 53 

289 Sorrow distorts appearances. 

Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows, 
Which show like grief itself, but are not so : 
For sorrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears, 
Divides one thing entire to many objects ; 
Like perspectives,* which, rightly gazed upon, 
Show nothing but confusion ; eyed awry, 
Distinguish form. 17 — ii. 2. 

290 Fortitude under afflictions. 

Bid that welcome 
Which comes to punish us, and we punish it 
Seeming to bear it lightly. 30 — iv. 12. 

291 Adversity, the uses of. 
Sweet are the uses of adversity ; 
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. 10 — ii. 1. 

292 Rumour. 

From Rumour's tongues 
They bring smooth comforts false, worse than true 
wrongs. 19 — Induction. 

293 ' Time. 

Time. I, — that please some, try all ; both joy, and 
terror, 
Of good and bad ; that make, and unfold, error. 

13 — iv. Chorus. 

294 Mankind different in exterior only. 
Are we not brothers 1 

So man and man should be ; 
But clay and clay differs in dignity, 
Whose dust is both alike. 31 — iv. 2. 

* Amongst mathematical recreations, there is one in optics, in 
which a figure is drawn, wherein all the rules of perspective are in- 
verted, so that if held in the same position with those pictures which 
are drawn according to the rules of perspective, it can present no- 
thing but confusion: and to be seen in form, and under a regular ap- 
pearance, it must be looked upon from a contrary station ; or, as 
Shakspeare says, eyed awry. 

This curious double allusion to an optical experiment, not even 
now very familiar, shows the strength, comprehensiveness and sub- 
tilty, of the poet's observation. The anamorphosis cylinder and 
polymorphic prism are both introduced. 

5* 



54 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

295 Popularity. 

There have been many great men that have flattered 
the people, who never loved them ; and there be many 
that they have loved, they know not wherefore : so 
that, if they love they know not why, they hate upon 
no better ground. 28 — ii. 2. 

296 Cruelly insecure. 

There is no sure foundation set in blood ; 

No certain life achieved by others' death. 16 — iv. 2. 

297 Truth, beauty's ornament. 

O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem, 

By that sweet ornament "which truth doth give ! 

The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem 

For that sweet odour which doth in it live. 

The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye, 

As the perfumed tincture of the roses ; 

Hang on such thorns, and play so wantonly, 

When summer's breath their masked buds discloses ; 

But, for their virtue only is their show, 

They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade ; 

Die to themselves ; sweet roses do not so ; 

Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made. 

Poems. 

298 Time. 

The end crowns all ; 
And that old common arbitrator, Time, 
Will one day end it. 26 — iv. 5. 

299 Justice due to Heaven. 

If the great gods be just, they shall assist 

The deeds of justest men. 30 — ii. 1. 

300 Station. 

To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen 
to move in it, are the holes where eyes should be, 
which pitifully disaster the cheeks.* 30 — ii. 7. 

* ' The being called into a huge sphere, and not being seen to 
move in it,' resembles sockets in a face where eyes should be [but 
are not] ; which empty sockets, or holes without eyes, pitifully dis- 
figure the countenance. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 55 

301 Judgment. 

Heaven is above all ; there sits a Judge, 

That no king can corrupt. 25 — iii. 1. 

302 Hypocrisy. 

O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint, 

With saints dost bait thy hook ! Most dangerous 

Is that temptation, that doth goad us on 

To sin in loving virtue. 5 — ii. 2. 

303 The danger of relying on our own strength. 

[Lie in the lap of sin,] and not mean harm? 
It is hypocrisy against the devil : 
They that mean virtuously, and yet do so, 
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.* 

37— iv. 1. 

304 Pomp and power, their end. 

Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust 1 ? 
And, live we how we can, yet die we must. 

23— v. 2. 

305 Equality of human life. 

Your worm is your only emperor for diet : we fat 
all creatures else, to fat us; and we fat ourselves for 
maggots: Your fat king, and your lean beggar, is 
but variable service ; two dishes, but to one table ; 
that's the end. 36 — iv. 3. 

306 Insinuations, painful. 

'Tis better to be much abused, 
Than but to know't a little. 37— iii. 3. 

307 The clearest sight without wisdom, blindness. 

What an infinite mock is this, that a man should 
have the best use of eyes, to see the way of blindness! 

31— v. 4. 

308 A guilty conscience. 

Unnatural deeds 
Do breed unnatural troubles : Infected minds 
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. 

15— v. 1. 

* Matt. iv. 7. 



56 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

309 Fear. 

The sleeping, and the dead, 
Are but as pictures : 'tis the eye of childhood, 
That fears a painted devil. 15 — ii. 2. 

310 The variableness of mankind. 

The veins unfill'd, our blood is cold, and then 

We pout upon the morning, are unapt 

To give or to forgive ; but when we have stufF'd 

These pipes, and these conveyances of our blood, 

With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls 

Than in our priest-like fasts. 28 — v. 1. 

311 Confident security dangerous. 

The wound of peace is surety, 
Surety secure ; but modest doubt is call'd 
The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches 
To the bottom of the worst. 26 — ii. 2. 

312 Love, its dereliction. 

Sweet love, changing his property, 
Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate. 

17— iii. 2. 

313 Severe justice. 

After execution, judgment hath 
Repented o'er his doom.* 5 — ii. 2. 

314 Reverence due to Heaven. 

Shall we serve heaven 
With less respect than we do minister 
To our gross selves'? 5 — ii. 2. 

315 Unstable friends. 

What viler thing upon the earth, than friends, 
Who can bring noblest minds to basest ends ! 

27— iv. 3. 

316 Ambition. 

Thriftless ambition, that will raven up 

Thine own life's means ! 15 — ii. 4. 

* This was the case of Queen Elizabeth after the execution of 
Essex. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 57 

317 Retribution. 

The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices 

Make instruments to scourge us.* 34 — v. 3. 

318 Sorrow. 

Our size of sorrow, 
Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great 
As that which makes it. 30 — iv. 13. 

319 Time, its fleetness. 

It is ten o'clock : 
Thus may we see, how the world wags : 
'Tis but an hour ago, since it was nine ; 
And after an hour more 'twill be eleven ; 
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, 
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot, 
And thereby hangs a tale. 10 — ii. 7. 

320 Wickedness, its own reward. 
What mischiefs work the wicked ones ; 

Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby ! 

22— ii. 1. 

321 Earthly glory. 

O mighty Csssar ! dost thou lie so low 1 

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, 

Shrunk to this little measure'? 29 — iii. 1. 

322 Contention. 

When two authorities are up, 
Neither supreme, how soon confusion 
May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take 
The one by the other. 28 — iii. 1. 

323 God's procedure. 

You snatch some hence for little faults ; that's love, 
To have them fall no more ; you some permit 
To second ills with ills, each elder worse ; 
And make them dread it to the doers' thrift. 

31— v. 1. 

324 Omnipotence. 

Can we outrun the heavens If 22 — v. 2. 

* God often punishes sin with sin. t Ps- cxxxix. 



58 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

325 Crime revealed. 

Blood will have blood : 
Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak ; 
Augurs, and understood relations, have 
By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth 
The secret'st man of blood. 15 — iii. 4. 

326 Fear. 

Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds 

Where it should guard. 22 — v. % 

327 Circumspection in bounty. 

'Tis pity, bounty had not eyes behind ; 

That man might ne'er be wretched for his mind. 

27— i. 2. 

328 Discretion of age. 

'Tis not good that children should know any wick- 
edness : old folks have discretion, as they say, and 
know the world. 3 — ii. 2. 

329 Fortitude. 

Yield not thy neck 
To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind 
Still ride in triumph over all mischance. 23 — iii. 3. 

330 Patience. 

With patience calm the storm. 23 — iii. 3. 

331 Gifts bartered. 

There's none 
Can truly say, he gives, if he receives. 27 — i. 2. 

332 Envy. 

That monster Envy, oft the wrack 

Of earned praise. 33 — iv. 1. 

333 Human life. 

Reason thus with life: 
. . . . A breath thou art, 
(Servile to all the skiey influences,) 
That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, 
Hourly afflict : merely, thou art Death's fool ; 
For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun, 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 59 

And yet run'st toward him still : Thou art not noble ; 

For all the accommodations that thou bear'st 

Are nursed by baseness : Thou art by no means 

valiant ; 
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork 
Of a poor worm : Thy best of rest is sleep, 
And that thou oft provok'st. 

Thou art not thyself; 
For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains 
That issue out of dust : Happy thou art not : 
For what thou hast not, still thou striv'st to get ; 
And what thou hast, forget'st : Thou art not certain ; 
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,* 
After the moon : If thou art rich, thou art poor ; 
For, like an ass, whose back with ingots bows, 
Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey, 
And Death unloads thee : Friends hast thou none ; 
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire, 
The mere effusion of thy proper loins, 
Do curse the gout, serpigo,! and the rheum, 
For ending thee no sooner : Thou hast nor youth, nor 

age; 
But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep, 
Dreaming on both : for all thy blessed youth 
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms 
Of palsied eld ;| and when thou art old, and rich, 
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty, 
To make thy riches pleasant. Yet in this life 
Lie hid more thousand deaths : yet death we fear. 

5 — iii. 1. 

334 Intemperance, the evil of it. 

Boundless intemperance 
In nature is a tyranny ; it hath been 
Th' untimely emptying of the happy throne, 
And fall of many kings. 15 — iv. 3. 

335 Avarice. 
How quickly nature falls into revolt, 
When gold becomes her object ! 

For this, the foolish over-careful fathers 

Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with 

Their bones with industry : [care, 

* Affects^ affections. t Leprous eruptions. t Old age. 



60 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

For this, they have engross'd and piled up 

The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold ; 

For this they have been thoughtful to invest 

Their sons with arts, and martial exercises : 

When, like the bee, tolling* from every flower 

The virtuous sweets; 

Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey, 

We bring it to the hive ; and, like the bees, 

Are murder'd for our pains. 19 — iv. 4. 

336 Discordance. « 

How sour sweet music is, 
When time is broke, and no proportion kept ! 
So is it in the music of men's lives. 17 — v. 5. 

337 Cowardice. Courage. 

Cowards die many timers before their deaths ; 

The valiant never taste of death but once. 29 — ii. 2. 

338 Jests misplaced may be fatal. 
His jest will savour but of shallow wit, 

When thousands weep more than did laugh at it. 

20— i. 2. 

339 Simplicity in pleasing. 

That sport best pleases, that doth least know how : 
Where zeal strives to content, and the contents 
Die in the zeal of them which it presents, 
Their form confounded makes most form in mirth ; 
When great things labouring perish in their birth. 

8— v. 2. 

340 Satiety. 

The cloy'd will, 
(That satiate yet unsatisfied desire, 
That tub both fill'd and running,) ravening first 
The lamb, longs after for the garbage. 31 — i. 7. 

341 Human corruption. 

All is oblique ; 
There's nothing level in our cursed natures, 
But direct villany. 27 — iv. 3. 

* Taking toll, gathering. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 61 

342 Brevity of life. 

Some, how brief the life of man 

Runs his erring pilgrimage ; 
That the stretching of a span 

Buckles in his sum of age. 10 — iii. 2. 

343 Infatuation. 

Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man, 

That slaves your ordinance, that will not see 

Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly ; 

So distribution should undo excess, 

And each man have enough. 34 — iv. 1. 

344 The same. 

Sometimes we are devils to ourselves, 

When we shall tempt the frailty of our powers, 

Presuming on their changeful potency. 26 — iv. 4. 

345 Conscience. 

Conscience, conscience, 
O, 'tis a ten der place. 25 — ii. 2. 

346 Exorbitant delights. 

Why, all delights are vain ; but that most vain, 
Which, with pain purchased, doth inherit pain. 

8— i. 1. 

347 Excess not lasting. 

Violent fires soon burn out themselves : 

Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short ; 

He tires betimes, that spurs too fast betimes ; 

With eager feeding, food doth choke the feeder : 

Light Vanity, insatiate cormorant, 

Consuming means, soon preys upon itself. 17 — ii. 1. 

348 Youth and age distinguished. 

Youth no less becomes 
The light and careless livery that it wears. 
Than settled age his sables and his weeds, 
Importing health and graveness.* 36 — iv. 7. 

* A young man regards show in dress ; an old man health. 

6 



62 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

349 Love elevates and refines. 

Base men, being in love, have then a nobility irr 
their natures more than is native to them. 

37— ii. 1. 

350 The most promising hopes often blasted. 

As in the sweetest bud 
The eating ranker dwells, so eating love 
Inhabits in the finest wits of all. 

As the most forward bud 
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow, 
Even so by love the young and tender wit 
Is turn'd to folly ; blasting in the bud, 
Losing his verdure even in the prime, 
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 2 — i. 1. 

351 Sincere vows. 

'Tis not the many oaths, that make the truth ; 
But the plain single vow, that is vow'd true. 
What is not holy, that we swear not by, 
But take the Highest to witness * 11 — iv. 2. 

352 Silence, eloquent- 
The silence often of pure innocence 

Persuades, when speaking fails. 13— ii. 2. 

353 Delusion of imagination. 

O, who can hold a fire in his hand, 
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus 1 
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite, 
By bare imagination of a feast 1 
Or wallow naked in December snow, 
By thinking on fantastic summer's heat'? 
O, no ! the apprehension of the good, 
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse : 
Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more, 
Than when it bites, but lanceth not the sore. 

17— i. 3. 

354 Violence of love. 
This is the very ecstasy of love, 
Whose violent property foredoesf itself, 

* The sense is, we never swear by what is not holy, but take to 
witness the Highest— the Divinity. \ Destroys. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 63 

And leads the will to desperate undertakings, 

As oft as any passion under heaven, 

That does afflict our natures. 36 — ii. 1. 

355 Furiousness of fear. 

To be furious, 
Is, to be frighted out of fear: and, in that mood, 
The dove will peck the estridge :* 

When valour preys on reason, 
It eats the sword it fights with. 30 — iii. 11. 

356 Excess of grief and joy. 

The violence of either grief or joy 
Their own enacturesf with themselves destroy : 
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament; 
Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident. 

36— iii. 2. 

357 Mental power. 

Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, 

Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, 

Can be retentive to the strength of spirit. 29 — i. 3. 

358 > Duplicity. 

The harlot's cheek, beautied with plasfring art, 
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it,J 
Than is my deed to my most painted word. 

36— iii. 1. 

359 Unjust pardon. 

Ignomy§ in ransom, and free pardon, 
Are of two houses : lawful mercy is 
Nothing akin to foul redemption. 5 — ii. 4. 

360 Affliction, most felt by contrast 

To be worst, 
The lowest, and most dejected thing of fortune, 
Stands still in esperance*!! lives not in fear: 
The lamentable change is from the best ; 
The worst returns to laughter. 34 — iv. L 

* Ostrich. t Determinations. 

X That is, compared with the thing that helps it. 
§ An ignominious ransom. || Hope. 



64 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

361 Suspicion. 

What ready tongue Suspicion hath. 19— i. 1. 

362 Goodness often misinterpreted. 

To some kind of men, 
Their graces serve them but as enemies. — 
O, what a world is this, when what is comely 
Envenoms him that bears it ! 10 — ii. 2. 

363 Man and Woman, comparative view of. 

Men have marble, women waxen, minds, 
And therefore are they form'd as marble will ; 
The weak oppress'd, the impression of strange kinds 
Is form'd in them by force, by fraud, or skill : 
Then call them not the authors of their ill, 
No more than wax shall be accounted evil, 
Wherein is stamp' d the semblance of a devil. 

Their smoothness, like a goodly champaign plain, 
Lays open all the little worms that creep ; 
In men, as in a rough-grown grove, remain 
Cave-keeping evils that obscurely sleep : 
Through crystal walls each little mote will peep : 
Though men can cover crimes with bold stern looks, 
Poor women's faces are their own faults' books. 

No man inveigh against the wither'd flower, 
But chide rough Winter that the flower hath kill'd ! 
Not that devour'd, but that which doth devour, 
Is worthy blame. O, let it not be hild 
Poor women's faults, that they are so fulfill'd 
With men's abuses : those proud lords, to blame, 
Make weak-made women tenants to their shame. 

Poems. 

364 Appearances often deceitful. 

It is the bright day that brings forth the adder ; 
And that craves wary walking. 29 — ii. 1. 

365 Prodigality of pirates. 

Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage, 

And purchase friends, and give to courtezans, 

Still revelling, like lords, till all be gone : 

While as the silly owner of the goods 

Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands, 



MORAL THILOSOPHY. 65 

And shakes his head, and trembling 1 stands aloof, 
While all is shared, and all is borne away ; 
Ready to starve, and dare not touch his own. 

22— i. 1. 

366 Treason. 

Treason is but trusted like the fox; 

Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up, 

Will have a wild trick of his ancestors. 18 — v. 2. 

367 Marriage. 

Marriage is a matter of more worth 
Than to be dealt in by attorneyship.* 

For what is wedlock forced, but a hell, 

An age of discord and continual strife 1 ] 

Whereas the contrary bringeth forth bliss, 

And is a pattern of celestial peace. 21 — v. 5. 

368 Female anger. . 

A woman moved, is like a fountain troubled, 

Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty ; 

And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty 

Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it. 12 — v. 2. 

369 Female ascendancy. 

Do not curst wives hold that self-sovereignty 
Only for praise sake, when they strive to be 
Lords o'er their lords 1 8 — iv. 1. 

370 Pleasure, more pursued than enjoyed. 

Who riseth from a feast, 
With that keen appetite that he sits down 1 
Where is the horse that doth untread again 
His tedious measures with the unbated fire 
That he did pace them first 1 All things that are, 
Are with more spirit chased than enjoy'd. 
How, like a younker, or a prodigal, 
The scarfedf bark puts from her native bay, 
Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind ! 
How like the prodigal doth she return, 

* By the discretionary agency of another, 
t Decorated with flags. 

6 * 



66 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

With over-weather'd ribs, and ragged sails, 
Lean, rent, and beggar'd, by the strumpet wind ! 

9— ii. 6. 

371 The effects of a disordered mind. 

Who can be wise, amazed, temperate, and furious, 
Loyal and neutral, in a moment! No man. 

15— ii. 3. 

372 Knowledge gained by experience. 

Our courtiers say, all's savage but at court : 
Experience, O thou disprov'st report! 
The imperious* seas breed monsters ; for the dish, 
Poor tributary rivers as sweet fish. 31 — iv. 2. 

373 Revenge, not valorous. 

You cannot make gross sins look clear; 

To revenge is no valour, but to bear. 27 — iii. 5. 

374 Jealousy. 

Trifles, light as air, 
Are, to the jealous, confirmations strong 
As proofs of holy writ. 37 — iii. 3. 

375 The power of imagination. 

Conceit may rob 
The treasury of life, when life itself 
Yields to the theft. | 34— iv. 6. 

376 Drunkenness. 
What's a drunken man like 1 

Like a drown'd man, a fool, and a madman : one 
draught above heat| makes him a fool ; the second 
mads him ; and a third drowns him. 4 — i. 5. 

377 Pride and poverty. 

O world, how apt the poor are to be proud ! 

4— iii. 1 . 

378 Universal order. 
There's nothing, situate under heaven's eye, 
But hath his bound, in earth, in sea, in sky. 

14— ii. 1. 

* Imperial. f When life is willing to be destroyed. 

\ i e. Above the state of Leing warm. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 67 

379 Reason, ineffectual to stay appetite. 

* * * * * * 

Counsel may stop awhile, what will not stay ; 

For when we rage, advice is often seen 

By blunting us to make our wits more keen. 

Nor gives it satisfaction to our blood, 
That we must curb it upon others' proof; 
To be forbid the sweets that seem so good, 
For fear of harms that preach in our behoof. 
O appetite, from judgment stand aloof! 
The one a palate hath that needs will taste, 
Though reason weep and cry — it is thy last. 

Poems. 

380 Occupation. 

What pleasure find we in life, to lock it 

From action and adventure 1 31 — iv. 4. 

381 The same. 

Every lane's end, every shop, church, session, hang- 
ing, yields a careful man work. 13 — iv. 3. 

382 Drunkenness. 

O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no 
name to be known by, let us call thee — devil ! * 
* * O, that men should put an enemy in their 
mouths, to steal away their brains ! that we should, 
with joy, revel, pleasure, and applause, transform 
ourselves into beasts ! 37 — ii. 3. 

383 Misery. 

The miserable have no other medicine, 

But only hope. 5 — iii. 1. 

384 Complaints unavailing. 

None can cure their harms by wailing them. 

24— ii. 2. 

385 Time's progress. 

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, 
So do our minutes hasten to their end ; 
Each changing place with that which goes before; 
In sequent toil all forwards do contend. 



68 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Nativity once in the main of light, 

Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd, 

Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight, 

And time that gave, doth now his gift confound. 

Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth, 

And delves the parallels in beauty's brow ! 

Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth, 

And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow. 

Poems. 

386 The ivant of self-knowledge. 

Defect of manners, want of government, 

Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain : 

The least of which, 

Loseth men's hearts; and leaves behind a stain 

Upon the beauty of all parts besides, 

Beguiling them of commendation. 18 — iii. 1. 

387 Comparison. 

When the moon shone, we did not see the candle. 

So doth the greater glory dim the less ; 

A substitute shines brightly as a king, 

Until a king be by ; and then his state 

Empties itself, as doth an inland brook 

Into the main of waters. 9 — v. 1. 

388 Reason subdued by passion. 

O strange excuse ! 
When Reason is the bawd to Lust's abuse. Poems. 

389 The judgment corrupted by gold. 

O thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce 

'Twixt natural son and sire ! thou bright defiler 

Of Hymen's purest bed ! thou valiant Mars ! 

Thou ever young, fresh, loved, and delicate wooer, 

Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow 

That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god, 

That solder'st close impossibilities, 

And mak'st them kiss ! that speak'st with every 

tongue, 
To every purpose ! O thou touch* of hearts ! 
Think, th; 7 slave man rebels ; and by thy virtue 

* For touchstone. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 69 

Set them into confounding odds, that beasts 

May have the world in empire ! 27 — iv. 3. 

390 The evil of loose discipline. 

Now, as fond fathers, 
Having bound up the threat'ning twigs of birch, 
Only to stick it in their children's sight, 
For terror, not to use; in time the rod 
Becomes more mock'd than fear'd: so our decrees, 
Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead; 
And liberty plucks justice by the nose; 
The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart 
Goes all decorum. 5 — i. 4. 

391 Impure poetry. 

Lascivious metres, to whose venom sound 

The open ear of youth doth always listen. 17 — ii. 1. 

392 The curse of avarice. 

Despair to gain doth traffic oft for gaining : 
And when great treasure is the meed proposed, 
Though death be adjunct, there's no death supposed. 

Those that much covet are of gain so fond, 

That what they have not (that which they possess) 

They scatter and unloose it from their bond, 

And so by hoping more they have but less ; 

Or gaining more the profit of excess 

Is but to surfeit, and such griefs sustain. 

That they prove bankrupt in this poor-rich gain. 

The aim of all is but to nurse the life 

With honour, wealth, and ease, in waining age : 

And in this aim there is such thwarting strife, 

That one for all, or all for one, we gage : 

As life for honour in fell battle's rage, 

Honour for wealth, and oft that wealth doth cost 

The death of all, and altogether lost. 

So that in vent'ring all, we leave to be 

The things we are for that which we expect : 

And this ambitious foul inlirmity, 

In having much, torments us with defect 

Of that we have : so then we do neglect 



70 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

The thing we have, and all for want of wit, 
Make something- nothing, by augmenting it. 

Poems. 

393 Experience necessary to complete the man. 

He cannot be a perfect man, 

Not being tried and tutor'd in the world. 

Experience is by industry achieved, 

And perfected by the swift course of time. % — i. 3. 

394 The character of true excellence. 

Value dwells not in particular will; 
It holds its estimate and dignity 
As well wherein 'tis precious of itself 
As in the prizer ; 'tis mad idolatry, 
To make the service greater than thegod ; 
And the will dotes, that is attributive 
To what infectiously itself affects,* 
Without some image of the affected merit. 
I take to-day a wife, and my election 
Is led on in the conduct of my will ;f 
My will enkindled by mine eyes and ears, 
Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous shores 
Of will and judgment : How may I avoid, 
Although my will distaste what it elected, 
The wife I chose 1 there can be no evasion 
To blench! from this, and to stand firm by honour : 
We turn not back the silks upon the merchant, 
When we have soil'd them ; nor the remainder viands 
We do not throw in unrespective sieved 
Because we now are full. 26 — ii. 2. 

395 The duty of conjugal fidelity. 

Nature craves, 
All dues be render' d to their owners; Now, 
What nearer debt in all humanity, 
Than wife is to the husband? if this law 
Of nature be corrupted through affection ; 
And that great minds, of partial indulgence 

* The will dotes that attributed or gives the qualities which it 
affects; that first.causes excellence, and then admires it. 
t i. e. Under the euidance of jnv will. 
J Shrink, or fly aff. § Basket. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 71 

To their benumbed* wills, resist the same ; 

There is a law in each well-order'd nation, 

To curb those raging appetites that are 

Most disobedient and refractory. 26 — ii. 2. 

396 Gold all things obey. 

'Tis gold, 
Which buys admittance ; oft it doth ; yea, and makes 
Diana's rangers,, false themselves, yield up 
Their deer to the stand of the stealer ; and T tis gold 
Which makes the true man kill'd, and saves the thief; 
Nay, sometimes hangs both thief and true man : What 
Can it not do, and undo T 31 — ii. 3. 

397 The mind contaminated by gold* 

Gold This yellow slave 

Will knit and break religious ; bless the accursed \, 
Make the hoar leprosy adored ; place thieves, 
And give them title, knee, and approbation,. 
With senators on the bench : this is it, 
That makes the wappen'df widow wed again ; 
She, whom the spital-house and ulcerous sores 
Would cast the gorge at, this embalms and spices 
To the April day again, f 27 — iv.. 3. 

398 Tlte venom of Slander. 

Slander, 
Whose edge is sharper than the sword ; whose tongue 
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile ; whose breath 
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie 
All corners of the world; kings, queens, and states,^ 
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave, 
This viperous slander enters. 31 — iii. 4. 

399 Destiny. 

All unavoided|| is the doom of destiny, — 

When avoided grace makes destiny. 24 — iv. 4. 

400 Honour. 

The due of honour in no point omit. IF 31 — iii. 5. 

* Inflexible. t Sorrowful. 

X i. e. Gold restores her to all the sweetness and freshness of youth. 

§ Persons of highest rank. || Unavoidable. 

If Heb. ii. 3. Rom. xiii. 7. 



72 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

401 The world deluded by appearances. 

The world is still deceived with ornament. 

In Law, what plea so tainted and corrupt, 

But, being season'd with a gracious voice,* 

Obscures the show of evil 1 In Religion, 

What damned error, but some sober brow 

Will bless it, and approve it with a text, 

Hiding the grossness with fair ornament 1 

There is no vice so simple, but assumes 

Some mark of virtue on his outward parts. 

How many Cowards, whose hearts are all as false 

As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins 

The beards of Hercules, and frowning Mars ; 

Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk? 

And these assume but valour's excrement, 

To render them redoubted. Look on Beauty, 

And you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight; 

Which therein works a miracle in nature, 

Making them lightest that wear most of it : 

So are those crispedf snaky golden locks, 

Which make such wanton gambols with the wind, 

Upon supposed fairness, often known 

To be the dowry of a second head, 

The scull that bred them, in the sepulchre. 

Thus ornament is but the guiledj shore 

To a most dangerous sea ; the beauteous scarf 

Veiling an Indian beauty ; in a word, 

The seeming truth which cunning times put on 

To entrap the wisest. 9 — iii. i 

402 Futurity ivisely concealed. 

O heaven ! that one might read the book of fate ; 
And see the revolution of the times 
Make mountains level, and the continent 
(Weary of solid firmness) melt itself 
Into the sea ! and, other times, to see 
The beachy girdle of the ocean 
Too wide for Neptune's hips ; how chances mock, 
And changes fill the cup of alteration 
With divers liquors ! O, if this were seen, 
The happiest youth, — viewing his progress through, 

♦Winning favour, pleasing. 

t Curled. % Treacherous. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 73 

What perils past, what crosses to ensue, — 
Would shut the book, and sit him down and die. 

19— iii. 1. 

403 Decaying love, its effects. 

When love begins to sicken and decay, 

It useth an enforced ceremony. 

There are no tricks in plain and simple faith : 

But hollow men, like horses hot at hand, 

Make gallant show and promise of their mettle : 

But, when they should endure the bloody spur, 

They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades, 

Sink in the trial. 29 — iv. 2. 

404 Friendship, its caprices. 

O, world, thy slippery turns ! Friends now fast sworn, 
Whose double bosoms seem to wear one heart, 
Whose hours, whose bed, whose meal and exercise, 
Are still together, who twin, as 'twere in love 
Unseparable, shall within this hour, 
On a dissension of a doit, break out 
To bitterest enmity : So, fellest foes, 
Whose passions, and whose plots, have broke their 

sleep 
To take the one the other, by some chance, 
Some trick not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends, 
And interjoin their issues. 28 — iv. 4. 

405 Sorroic, heaviest when unaided by the tongue. 

The heart hath treble wrong, 
When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue. 
An oven that is stopped, or river staid, 
Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage i 
So of concealed sorrow may be said. 

Poems. 

406 The effects of trials. 

You were used 

To say, extremity was the trier of spirits ; 

That common chances common men could bear ; 

That, when the sea was calm, all boats alike 

Show'd mastership in floating : fortune's blows, 

When most struck home, being gentle wounded, 

crave 
A noble cunning. 28 — iv. 1. 

7 



74 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



407 Female frailty. 

Women are frail ; 
Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves ; 
Which are as easy broke as they make forms. 

Nay, call us ten times frail ; 

For we are soft as our complexions are, 

And credulous to false prints. 5 — iL 4. 

408 Inexperience. 

The untainted virtue of your years 
Hath not yet dived into the world's deceit : 
No more can you distinguish of a man, 
Than of his outward show ; which, God he knows, 
Seldom, or never, jumpeth with the heart. 

24— iii. 1. 

409 Violent commotion. 

Riotous madness, 
To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, 
Which break themselves in swearing ! 30 — i. 3. 

410 Hypocrisy. 

It oft falls out, 
To have what we'd have, we speak not what we mean. 

5— ii. 4. 

411 Oppression. 

You take my house, when you do take the prop 
That doth sustain my house ; you take my life, 
When you do take the means whereby I live. 

9— iv. 1. 

412 Danger of precipitancy. 

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot, 

That it do singe yourself:* We may outrun, 

By violent swiftness, that which we run at, 

And lose by over-running. Know you not, 

The fire that mounts the liquor till it run o'er, 

In seeming to augment it, wastes it 1 25 — i. 1. 

413 Marriage. 
Earthiier happy is the rose distill'd, 

* Dan. iii. 22. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 75 

Than that, which, withering on the virgin thorn, 
Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness. 

7— i. 1. 

414 The same. 

Let still the woman take 
An elder than herself; so wears she to him, 
So sways she level in her husband's heart. 
. . . . However we do praise ourselves, 
Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, 
More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn, 
Than women's are. 4 — ii. 4. 

415 Filial ingratitude. 

Filial ingratitude ! 
Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand, 
For lifting food to't 1 34— iii. 4. 

416 Calumny. 

If I am traduced by tongues, which neither know 

My faculties, nor person, yet will be 

The chronicles of my doing — let me say, 

'Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake* 

That virtue must go through. 25 — i. 2. 

417 Benefit of communication with friends. 

You do, surely, but bar the door upon your own 
liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend. 

36— iii. 2. 

418 Human nature alike in all. 

Hath not a Jew eyes ] hath not a Jew hands, 
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions 1 fed 
with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, 
subject to the same diseases, healed by the same 
means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and 
summer, as a Christian is? if you prick us, do we 
not bfeed 1 if you tickle us, do we not laugh 7 if you 
poison us, do we not die 1 9 — iii. 1. 

419 Good may be extracted from evil. 

There is some soul of goodness in things evil, 
Would men observingly distil it out ; 

♦Thicket of thorns. 



76 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

We may gather honey from the weed, 

And make a moral of the devil himself. 20 — iv. 1. 

420 Flattery. 

Should dying men flatter with those that live 1 

No, no ; men living flatter those that die. 17 — ii. 1. 

421 Anticipation of evil. 

To fly the boar before the boar pursues, 

Were to incense the boar to follow us, 

And make pursuit, where he did mean no ehase. 

24— iii. 2. 

422 Honour not exempt from detraction. 

Can honour set to a leg? No. . Or an arm? No. 
Or take away the grief of a wound ] No. Honour 
hath no skill in surgery then 1 No. What is honour 7 
A word. What is in that word, honour ] What is 
that honour ! Air. A trim reckoning ! — Who hath 
it"? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it] No. 
Doth he hear it 1 No. Is it insensible then 7 Yea, to 
the dead. But will it not live with the living ] No. 
Why 1 Detraction will not suffer it. 18 — v. 1. 

423 Exasperation. 

Bad is the trade must play the fool to sorrow, 
Ang'ring itself and others. 34 — iv. 1. 

424 Filial ingratitude. 

Ingratitude ! thou marble-hearted fiend, 

More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a child, 

Than the sea-monster !* 34 — i. 4. 

425 Desirableness of meekness. 

Who should study to prefer a peace, 

If holy churchmen take delight in broils 1 21-r-iii. 1. 

426 Self-inspection. 

Thy Glass will show thee how thy beauties wear, 
Thy Dial how thy precious minutes waste ; 

* The sea-monster, is the hippopotamus, the hieroglyphical sym- 
bol of impiety and ingratitude. Sandys, in his Travels, says, " that 
he killeth his sire, and ravisheth his own dam." 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 77 

The vacant Leaves thy mind's imprint will bear, 
And of this book this learning may'st thou taste. 
The wrinkles which thy Glass will truly show, 
Of mouthed graves will give the memory ; 
Thou by thy Dial's shady stealth may'st know 
Time's thievish progress to eternity. 
Look, what thy memory cannot contain, 
Commit to these waste Blanks, and thou shalt find 
Those children nursed, deliver'd from thy brain, 
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind. 
These offices, so oft as thou wilt look, 
Shall profit thee, and much enrich thy book. 

Poems. 

427 Greatness most exposed to scandal. 

The mightier man, the mightier is the thing 
That makes him honour'd, or begets him hate ; 
For greatest scandal waits on greatest state. 
The moon being clouded presently is miss'd 
But little stars may hide them when they list. 

The crow may bathe his coal-black wings in mire, 

And unperceived fly with the filth away ; 

But if the like the snow-white swan desire, 

The stain upon his silver down will stay. 

Poor grooms are sightless night, kings glorious day. 

Gnats are unnoted wheresoe'er they fly, 

But eagles gazed upon with every eye. 

Poems. 

428 Humility. 

Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good, 

But graciously to know I am no better. 5 — ii. 4. 

429 Kings, like other Men. 

Kings are no less unhappy, their issue not being 
gracious, than they are in losing them, when they have 
approved their virtues. 13 — iv. 1. 

430 Accusation. 

When shall he think to find a stranger just, 

When he himself, himself confounds, betrays 

To sland'rous tongues the wretched hateful days 1* 

Poems. 
Matt. vii. 1—5. 

7# 



78 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



431 Honour dearer than life. 

Life every man holds dear ; but the dear man 
Holds honour far more precious dear* than life. 

26— v. 3. 

432 Malice. 

Think'st thou it honourable for a noble man 

Still to remember wrongs ] 28 — v. 3. 

433 Duty fearless. 

To plainness honour's bound, 
When majesty stoops to folly. 34 — i. 1. 

434 Fidelity in servitude. 

Every good servant does not all commands : 

No bond, but to do just ones. 31 — v. 1. 

435 Peace, in what sense a victory. 

A peace is of the nature of a conquest ; 

For then both parties nobly are subdued, 

And neither party loser. 19 — iv. 2. 

436 The sight of sorrow, its effects. 

To see sad sights moves more, than hear them told ; 

For then the eye interprets to the ear 

The heavy motion, that it doth behold ; 

When every part a part of woe doth bear, 

'Tis but a part of sorrow that we hear. 

Deep sounds make lesser noise, than shallow fords ; 

And sorrow ebbs being blown with wind of words. 

Poems. 

437 Self-wretchedness. 

The man that makes his toe 

What he his heart should make, 

Shall of a corn cry woe, 
And turn his sleep to wake. 34 — iii. 2. 



438 Filial ingratitude. 

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is 
To have a thankless child ! 

* Valuable. 



34— i. 4. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 79 

439 Honours, their dangers. 

Too much honour : 
O, 'tis a burden, 'tis a burden, 
Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven. 

25— iii. 3. 

440 Worldly opinion of things. 

What things there are, 
Most abject in regard, and dear in use ! 
What things again most dear in the esteem, 
And poor in worth ! 26 — iii. 3. 

441 Human corruption. 

The world is grown so bad, 
That wrens may prey where eagles dare not perch. 

24— i. 3. 

442 Affections, false. 

Your affections are 
A sick man's appetite, who desires most that, 
Which would increase his evil. 28 — i. 1. 

443 Self-praise. 

We wound our modesty, and make foul the clear- 
ness of our deservings, when of ourselves we publish 
them. 11— i. 3. 

444 The cruelty of oppression. 

'Tis a cruelty, 
To load a falling man. 25 — v. 2. 

445 Famine contrasted with plenty. 

Famine, 
Ere clean it o'erthrow nature, makes it valiant. 
Plenty, and peace, breeds cowards ; hardness ever 
Of hardness is mother. 31 — iii. 4. 

446 Father. 

A father 
Is, at the nuptial of his son, a guest 
That best becomes the table. 13 — iv. 3. 

447 Love betrays itself like murder. 

A murd'rous guilt shows not itself more soon, 
Than love that would seem hid : love's night is noon. 

4— iii. 2. 



80 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

448 Female profligacy. 
Proper deformity seems not in the fiend 

So horrid, as in woman. 34 — iv. 2. 

449 Violent love boundless. 

This is the monstruosity in love, — that the will is 
infinite, and the execution confined ; that the desire is 
boundless, and the act a slave to limit. 26 — iii. 2. 

450 Dependance on the great fruitless. 

Poor wretches, that depend 
On greatness' favour, dream, 
Wake, and find nothing.* 
Many dream not to find, neither deserve, 
And yet are steeped in favours. 31 — v. 4. 

451 Punishment due to the guilty only. 

Why should the private pleasure of some one 
Become the public plague of many mo 1 
Let sin, alone committed, light alone 
Upon his head that hath transgressed so ; 
Let guiltless souls be freed from guilty woe, 
For one's offence, why should so many fall, 
To plague a private sin in general 1 

Poems. 

452 The power of guilt. 

Great guilt, 
Like poison given to work a great time after, 
Now 'gins to bite the spirits.f 1 — iii. 3. 

453 Jealousy. 

1 never gave him cause 

But jealous souls will not be answer'd so ; 

They are not ever jealous for the cause, 

But jealous, for they are jealous: 'tis a monster, 

Begot upon itself, born on itself. 37 — iii. 4. 

454 Debatement. 

A night is but small breath, and little pause, 

To answer matters of deep consequence. 20 — ii. 4. 

* " It shall ever be as when an hungry man dreameth, and be- 
hold he eateth, but he awaketh, and his soul is empty." — Isa. xxix. 8. 
tGen.xIii.21,22. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 81 

455 Conscience. 

To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is, 

Each toy* seems prologue to some great amiss : 

So full of artless jealousy is guilt, 

It spills itself in tearing to be spilt. 36 — iv. 4. 

456 The right exercise of power. 

Hast thou command % by Him that gave it thee, 
From a pure heart command thy rebel will : 
Draw not thy sword to guard iniquity, 
For it was lent thee all that brood to kill. 



457 Face, index of the mind. 

There's no art, 
To find the mind's construction in the face. 



Poems. 



15— i. 4. 



458 Policy. 

Men must learn now with pity to dispense ; 

For policy sits above conscience. 27 — iii. 2. 

459 Love. 

Love is not love, 
When it is mingled with respects,! that stand 
Aloof from the entire point.J 34 — i. 1. 

460 Jealousy. 

The venom clamours of a jealous woman 
Poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth. 

14— v. 1. 

461 Gratitude. 

Gratitude 
Through flinty Tartar's bosom would peep forth, 
And answer, thanks. 11 — iv. 4. 

462 Imbecility. 

Old fools are babes again ; and must be used 
With checks, as flatteries, — when they are seen abused. 

34— i. 3. 

463 No value in a name alone. 

What's in a name 1 that, which we call a rose, 

By any other name would smell as sweet. 35 — ii. 2. 

* Trifle. f *• e - With cautious and prudential considerations. 
J " Who seeks for aught in love but love alone?" 



82 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

464 Right qualifications of man. 

Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, man- 
hood, learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality, 
and such like, the spice and salt that season a man 1 

26— i. 2. 

465 Friends, in what sense valuable. 

What need we have any friends, if we should never 
have need of them? they were the most needless 
creatures living, should we ne'er have use for them : 
and would most resemble sweet instruments hung up 
in cases, that keep their sounds to themselves. 

27—i. 2. 

466 An HI word often dangerous. 

One doth not know, 
How much an ill word may empoison liking. 

6— iii. 1. 

467 Sympathy. 

Passion, I see, is catching ; for mine eyes, 

Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, 

Began to water. 29 — iii. 1. 

468 Mirth not suitable to sorrow. 
Sad souls are slain in merry company ; 
Grief best is pleased with grief's society. 
True sorrow then is feelingly surprised, 
When with like semblance it is sympathised. 

Poems. 

469 Want of principle. 

As the unthought-on accident* is guilty 

To what we wildly do : so we profess 

Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and fliesf 

Of every wind that blows. 13 — iv. 3. 

470 Fame, where dangerous. 

Better leave undone, than by our deed acquire 
Too high a fame, when him we serve's away. 

30— iii. 1. 

471 The effect of over-indulgence. 

What doth cherish weeds, but gentle air 1 

And what makes robbers bold, but too much lenity 1 

23— ii. 6. 

* The unexpected discovery. f As to a jack, or mill. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 83 

472 Silence most expressive of happiness. 

Silence is the perfectest herald of joy : I were but 
little happy, if I could say how much. 6 — ii. 1. 

473 Daringness. 

O, v/hat men dare do ! what men may do ! what 
men daily do ! not knowing what they do ! 

6— iv. 1. 

474 Suspension of life. 

Death may usurp on nature many hours, 

And yet the fire of life kindle again 

The overpressed spirits. 33 — iii. 2. 

475 Practice and Theory. 

The art and practic part of life 
Must be the mistress to the theoric* 20 — i. 1. 

476 Contentiousness. 

Some kind of men put quarrels purposely on others, 
to taste their valour. 4 — iii. 4. 

477 Hollow friends. 

Friendship's full of dregs: 
Methinks, false hearts should never have sound legs, 
Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on court'sies. 

27— i. 2. 

478 Human imperfection. 

Who is so full of grace, that it flows over 

On all that need 1 30— v. 2. 

479 Avarice. 

Avarice 
Grows with more pernicious root 
Than summer-seeding lust.f 15 — iv. 3. 

480 Faithless friendship. 

Who should be trusted now, when one's right hand 
Is perjured to the bosom T 2 — v. 4. 

481 Contention. 

Where two raging fires meet together, 

They do consume the thing that feeds their fury : 

* Theory. t Than summer-sinning lust. 



84 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Though little fire grows great with little wind, 
Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all. 

12— ii. 1. 

482 Suspicion. 

Who finds the heifer dead, and bleeding fresh, 
And sees fast by a butcher with an axe, 
But will suspect, 'twas he that made the slaughter 1 
Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest, 
But may imagine how the bird was dead, 
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak 1 

22— iii. 2. 

483 Selfishness. 

We cannot all be masters, nor all masters 

Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark 

Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave, 

That, doting on his own obsequious bondage, 

Wears out his time, much like his master's ass, 

For nought but provender; and, when he's old, 

cashier'd. 

Others there are, 

Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty, 
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves; 
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords, 
Do well thrive by them, and, when they have lined 

their coats, 
Do themselves homage. 37 — i. 1. 

484 Violent desires. 

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame 

Is lust in action ; and till action, lust 

Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, 

Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust; 

Enjoy'd no sooner, but despised straight ; 

Past reason hunted ; and, no sooner had, 

Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait, 

On purpose laid to make the taker mad : 

Mad in pursuit, and in possession so ; 

Had, 'having, and in quest to have, extreme; 

A bliss in proof, — and proved, a very woe ; 

Before, a joy proposed ; behind, a dream : 

All this the world well knows; yet none knows well 

To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell. 

Poems. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 85 

485 Man changed by outward circumstances. 

At all times alike 
Men are not still the same ; 'Twas time and griefs, 
That framed him thus ; time, with his fairer hand 
Offering the fortunes of his former days, 
The former man may make him. 27 — v. 2. 

486 The effects of fear and sloth. 

Ebbing men, 
Most often do so near the bottom run, 
By their own fear, or sloth. 1 — ii. 1. 

487 Resignation. 

The time will bring on summer, 
When briars shall have leaves as well as thorns, 
And be as sweet, as sharp.* 11 — iv. 4. 

488 Ingratitude. 

Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 
Thou art not so unkindf 

As man's ingratitude : 
Thy tooth is not so keen, 
Because thou art not seen, 

Although thy breath be rude. 

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, 
That dost not bite so nigh 

As benefits forgot : 
Though thou the waters warp, 
Thy sting is not so sharp 

As friend remember'dj not. 10 — ii. 7. 

489 Carefulness. 

For my means, I'll husband them so well, 

They shall go far with little. 36— iv. 5. 

490 Man to be studied before trusted. 

'Tis not a year or two shows us a man : 

They are all but stomachs, and we all but food ; 

They eat us hungrily, and when they are full, 

They belch us. 37— iii. 4. 

* As briars have sweetness with their prickles, so shall troubles be 
recompensed with joy. 
t Unnatural. J Remembering. 

8 



86 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

491 Grief in experience and inexperience. 

True grief is fond, and testy as a child, 
Who, wayward once, his mood with nought agrees. 
Old woes, not infant sorrows, bear them mild ; 
Continuance tames the one, the other wild, 
Like an unpractised swimmer, plunging still, 
With too much labour, drowns for want of skill. 

Poems. 

492 Affliction sanctified. 
Affliction has a taste as sweet 

As any cordial comfort. 13 — v. 3. 

493 The power of natural affection. 

Unreasonable creatures feed their young: 

And though man's face be fearful to their eyes, 

Yet, in protection of their tender ones, 

Who hath not seen them (even with those wings 

Which sometimes they have used with fearful flight) 

Make war with them that climb'd unto their nest, 

Offering their own lives in their young's defence 1 

23— ii. 2. 

494 Tlie same. 

The poor wren, 
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,* 
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. 

15— iv. 2. 

495 Service seldom duly rewarded. 

The merit of service is seldom attributed to the true 
and exact performer. 11 — iii. 6. 

496 Satanic craftiness. 

Oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 

The instruments of darkness tell us truths ; 

Win us with honest trifles, to betray us 

In deepest consequence.! 15 — i. 3. 

497 The frailty of beauty. 

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, 
But sad mortality o'er-sways their power, 

* Fight for. f Acts xvi. 16—18. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 87 

How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, 
Whose action is no stronger than a flower 1 
O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out 
Against the wreckful siege of battering days, 
When rocks impregnable are not so stout, 
Nor gates of steel so strong, but time decays'? 

fearful meditation ! where, alack, 

Shall time's best jewel from time's chest lie hid 1 
Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back ! 
Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid 1 

Poems. 

498 Modest silence. 

What poor duty cannot do, 
Noble respect takes it in might, not merit. 
Where I have come great clerks have purposed 
To greet me with premeditated welcomes ; 
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, 
Make periods in the midst of sentences, 
Throttle their practised accents in their fears, 
And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off, 
Not paying me a welcome : Trust me, 
Out of this silence, yet, I pick'd a welcome; 
And in the modesty of fearful duty 

1 read as much, as from the rattling tongue 

Of saucy and audacious eloquence. 7 — v. 1. 

499 Conscience. 

Conscience, it makes a man a coward ; a man can- 
not steal, but it accuseth him ; a man cannot swear, 
but it checks him ; a man cannot lie with his neigh- 
bour's wife, but it detects him. 24 — i. 4. 

500 Troubles aggravated by the view of what would 

relieve them. 

'Tis double death to drown in ken of shore : 

He ten times pines, that pines beholding food : 

To see the salve, doth make the wound ache more ; 

Great grief grieves most at that would do it good : 

Deep woes roll forward like a gentle flood, 

Who, being stopp'd, the bounding banks o'erflows; 

Grief dallied with, nor law nor limits knows. 

Poems. 

501 The power of fear. 

Fear, and be slain ; no worse can come, to fight ; 



88 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

And fight and die, is death destroying death ; 
Where fearing dying, pays death servile breath. 

17— iii. 2. 

502 Time tedious to the afflicted. 

Short time seems Jong, in sorrow's sharp sustaining, 

Though woe be heavy, yet it seldom sleeps, 

And they that watch, see time how slow it creeps. 

Poems. 

503 Guilt its own tormentor. 

Better be with the dead, 
Than on the torture of the mind to lie 
In restless ecstasy. 15 — iii. 2. 

504 Hypocrisy. 

Some, that smile, have in their hearts, I fear, 
Millions of mischief. 29 — iv. 1. 

505 Revenge. 

Can vengeance be pursued farther than death 1 

35— v. 3. 

506 A noble resolve. 

Had I a dozen sons, — each in my love alike, — I had 
rather had eleven die nobly for their country, than one 
voluptuously surfeit out of action. 

28— i. 3. 

507 Sorrows eased by being imparted. 
Why should calamity be full of words? 

Windy attorneys to their client woes, 

Airy succeeders of intestate joys,* 

Poor breathing orators of miseries ! 

Let them have scope ; though what they do impart 

Help nothing else, yet do they ease the heart. 

24— iv. 4. 

508 Flattery. 

He that's once denied, will hardly speed. 

This 

Is the world's soul ; and just of the same piece 

Is every flatterer's spirit. 27 — iii. 2. 

509 The influence of envy. 

My heart laments, that virtue cannot live 

Out of the teeth of emulation.! 29 — ii. 3. 

* Joys that are dead. f Envy. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 89 

510 Sorrow. 

Sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow 

For debt, that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe. 

7— iii. 2. 

511 Somnambulism. 

A great perturbation in nature ! to receive at once 
the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of watching. 

15— v. 1. 

512 The instability of human happiness. 

This is the state of man ; to-day he puts forth 

The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, 

And bears his blushing honours thick upon him : 

The third day, comes a frost, a killing frost ; 

And, — when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 

His greatness is a ripening, — nips his fruit,* 

And then he falls. 25 — iii. 2. 

513 The same. 

Then was I as a tree, 
Whose boughs did bend with fruit : but in one night, 
A storm, or robbery, call it what you will, 
Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves, 
And left me bare to weather. 31 — iii. 3. 

514 The danger of elevation. 

Stoop. . . . This gate 
Instructs you how to adore the heavens ; and bows 

you 
To morning's holy office : The gates of monarchs 
Are arch'd so high, that giants may jetf through 
And keep their impious turbands on, without 
Good-morrow to the sun. 31 — iii. 3. 

515 Town and country life contrasted. 
Often, to our comfort, shall we find 
The sharded| beetle in a safer hold 

* Root is received by all the commentators, but evidently wrong ; if 
fruit be taken, then the metaphor throughout is complete. — In con- 
firmation of this, it may be observed that frosts do not nip the roots 
of trees and plants ; they are so deep in the earth as to be protected 
from the influence of frosts. And it is therefore not to be thought 
that Shakspeare, who was so minute and accurate an observer of na- 
ture, should have written root. 

f Strut, walk proudly. % Scaly-winged. 

8* ' 



90 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Than is the full-wing'd eagle. O, this life* 
Is nobler, than attending- for a check ;f 
Richer, than doing nothing for a babe ;\ 
Prouder, than rustling in unpaid-for silk : 
Such gain the cap of him, that makes them fine, 
Yet keeps his book uncross'd. 

Did you but know the city's usuries, 

And felt them knowingly ; the art o' the court, 

As hard to leave, as keep : whose top to climb 

Is certain falling, or so slippery, that 

The fear's as bad as falling ; the toil of the war, 

A pain that only seems to seek out danger 

I' the name of fame, and honour ; which dies i' the 

And hath as oft a slanderous epitaph, [search ; 

As record of fair act ; nay, many times, 

Doth ill deserve by doing well ; what's worse, 

Must court'sy at the censure. 31 — iii. 3. 

516 Secrecy. 

. . . . Affairs, that walk at midnight, have 

In them a wilder nature, than the business 

That seeks despatch by day. 25 — v. 1^ 

517 Death terrible to the wicked. 

Death is a fearful thing, 
And shamed life a hateful. 
To die, and go we know not where ; 
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot ; 
This sensible warm motion to become 
A kneaded clod ; and the delighted spirit 
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside 
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice ; 
To be imprison'd in the viewless^ winds, 
And blown with restless violence round about 
The pendent world, or to be worse than worst 
Of those, that lawless and incertain thoughts 
Imagine howling ! — 'tis too horrible ! 
The weariest and most loathed worldly life, 
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment, 
Can lay on nature, is a paradise 
To what we fear of death. 5 — iii. 1. 

* Rustic life. \ Command, control. 

t A puppet, or plaything for children. § Invisible. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 91 

518 Greatness, the pain of separating from. 
The soul and body rive* not more in parting, 

Than greatness going off. 30 — iv. 11. 

519 Predictions. 

When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks ; 
When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand ; 
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night I 
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth. 

24— ii. 3. 

520 The same. 
Before the days of change, still is it so : 
By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust 
Ensuing danger ; as, by proof, we see 

The water swelled before a boist'rous storm, 

But leave it all to God. 24 — ii. 3. 

521 Instability of life. 
An habitation giddy and unsure 

Hath he, that buildeth on the vulgar heart. 

19— i. 3. 

522 The desire of novelty. 

It hath been taught us from the primal state, 

That he, which is, was wish'd until he were ; 

And the ebb'd man, ne'er loved, till ne'er worth love, 

Comes dear'd by being lack'd.t This common body, 

Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream, 

Goes to, and back, lackeying the varying tide, 

To rot itself with motion. 30 — i. 4. 

523 The effects of care on age and youth. 
Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye, 
And where care lodges, sleep will never lie ; 
But where unbruised youth with unstuff'd brain. 
Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign. 

35— ii. 3. 

524 Impartiality to be shown in judging. 

He, who the sword of Heaven shall bear, 
Should be as holy as severe : 
Pattern in himself to know, 
Grace to stand, and virtue go ; 

* Split. t Missed. 



92 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

More nor less to others paying, 

Than by self-offences weighing. 

Shame to him, whose cruel striking 

Kills for faults of his own liking ! 5 — iii. 2. 

525 Suspicion. 

Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect 
The thoughts of others! 9— i. 3. 

526 Modesty. 

Can it be, i 

That modesty may more betray our sense 
Than woman's lightness? 5 — ii. 2. 

527 Life. 

Hold the world but as the world, 
A stage, where every man must play a part. 9 — i. 1. 

528 Tlie frailty of man. 
We all are men, 

In our own natures frail ; and capable 

Of our flesh, few are angels. 25 — v. 2. 

529 Ambition. 
Glory is like a circle in the water, 
Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, 

Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought. 

21— i. 2. 

530 Pleasure, preferred to knowledge. 
Who, being mature in knowledge, 

Pawn their experience to their present pleasure, 
And so rebel to judgment. 30 — i. 4. 

531 Mind uncultivated. 

'Tis an unweeded garden, 
That grows to seed ; things rank, and gross in nature, 
Possess it merely.* 36 — i. 2. 

532 Opportunity personified. 
Unruly blasts wait on the tender spring ; 
Unwholesome weeds take root with precious flowers ; 
The adder hisses where the sweet birds sing ; 

* Entirely. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 93 

What virtue breeds, iniquity devours : 
We have no good that we can say is ours : 
But ill annexed opportunity 
Or kills his life, or else his quality. 

O, Opportunity ! thy guilt is great : 
'Tis thou that execut'st the traitor's treason ; 
Thou set'st the wolf where he the lamb may get ; 
Whoever plots the sin, thou 'point'st the season ; 
'Tis thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason ; 
And in thy shady cell, where none may spy him, 
Sits Sin, to seize the souls that wander by him. 

Thou mak'st the vestal violate her oath : 

Thou blow'st the fire when temperance is thaw'd ; 

Thou smother'st honesty, thou murder'st troth ; 

Thou foul abettor ! thou notorious bawd ! 

Thou plantest scandal, and displacest laud : 

Thou ravisher, thou traitor, thou false thief, 

Thy honey turns to gall, thy joy to grief! 

Thy secret pleasure turns to open shame, 

Thy private feasting to a public fast ; 

Thy smoothing title to a ragged name ; 

Thy sugar'd tongue to bitter wormwood taste : 

Thy violent vanities can never last. 

How comes it then, vile Opportunity, 

Being so bad, such numbers seek for thee 3 

When wilt thou be the humble suppliant's friend, 

And bring him where his suit may be obtain'd 1 

When wilt thou sort an hour great strifes to end 1 

Or free that soul which wretchedness hath chain'd 1 

Give physic to the sick, ease to the pained 1 

The poor, lame, blind, halt, creep, cry out for thee ; 

But they ne'er meet with Opportunity. 

The patient dies while the physician sleeps ; 

The orphan pines while the oppressor feeds ; 

Justice is feasting while the widow weeps ; 

Advice is sporting while infection breeds ; 

Thou grant'st no time for charitable deeds : 

Wrath, envy, treason, rape, and murder's rages, 

Thy heinous hours wait on them as their pages. 

When Truth and" Virtue have to do with thee, 
A thousand crosses keep them from thy aid ; 
They buy thy help : but Sin ne'er gives a fee, 






94 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

He gratis comes ; and thou art well appay'd : 
As well to hear as grant what he hath said. 



Guilty thou art of murder and of theft ; 
Guilty of perjury and subornation ; 
Guilty of treason, forgery, and shift ; 
Guilty of incest, that abomination : 
An accessary by thine inclination 
To all sins past, and all that are to come, 
From the creation to the general doom. 



Poems. 



533 Time personified. 

Mis-shapen Time, copesmate of ugly night, 
Swift subtle post, carrier of grisly care ; 
Eater of youth, false slave to false delight, 
Base watch of woes, sin's pack-horse, virtue's snare ; 
Thou nursest all, and murderest all, that are. 



Time's glory is to calm contending kings ; 

To unmask falsehood, and bring truth to light; 

To stamp the seal of time on aged things ; 

To wake the morn, and centinel the night ; 

To wrong the wronger, till he render right ; 

To ruinate proud buildings, with thy hours, 

And smear with dust their glittering golden towers ; 

To fill with worm-holes stately monuments ; 

To feed oblivion with decay of things; 

To blot old books, and alter their contents ; 

To pluck the quills from ancient ravens' wings ; 

To dry the old oak's sap, and cherish springs ; 

To spoil antiquities of hammer'd steel, 

And turn the giddy round of fortune's wheel : 

To show the beldame daughters of her daughter ; 
To make the child a man, the man a child ; 
To slay the tiger, that doth live by slaughter ; 
To tame the unicorn, and lion wild ; 
To mock the subtle, in themselves beguiled; 
To cheer the ploughman with increaseful crops, 
And waste huge stones with little water-drops. 

Why work'st thou mischief in thy pilgrimage, 
Unless thou could'st return to make amends 1 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 95 

One poor retiring minute in an age, 

Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends ; 

Lending him wit, that to bad debtors lends. 

Poems. 



534 Moral conquest. 

Brave conquerors ! — for so you are, 
That war against your own affections, 
And the huge army of the world's desires. 8 — i. 1. 

535 Every place a home to the wise. 

All places, that the eye of heaven visits, 

Are to a wise man ports and happy havens :* 

Teach thy necessity to reason thus ; 

There is no virtue like necessity. 17 — i. 3. 

536 Tlie proffered means of Heaven to be embraced. 

The means, that heaven yields, must be embraced, 
And not neglected ; else, if heaven would, 
And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse ; 
The proffer'd means of succour and redress. 

17— iii. 2. 

537 Self-conquest. 

Better conquest never can'st thou make, 
Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts 
Against those giddy loose suggestions. 16— iii. 1. 

538 Acquaintanceship to be formed with caution. 

It is certain that either wise bearing, or ignorant 
carriage, is caught, as men take diseases, one of 
another : therefore, let men take heed of their com- 
pany. 19— v. 1. 

* Tit. i. 15. 



96 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

539 Sorrow not to be courted. 

In wooing sorrow let's be brief, 
Since, wedding it, there is such length in grief. 

17— v. 1. 

540 The solemnity of oaths. 

The truth thou art unsure 
To swear, swear* only not to be forsworn ; 
Else, what a mockery should it be to swear ! 

16— iii. 1. 

541 Resignation to the will of God. 

Heaven me such usage send, 
Not to pick bad from bad ; but, by bad, mend ! 

37— iv. 3. 

542 Knowledge to govern ourselves. 
Let's teach ourselves. Ah, honourable stop, 

Not to outsport discretion. 37 — ii. 3. 

543 Anger to he controlled by reason. 
Let your reason with your choler question 
What 'tis you go about : To climb steep hills 
Requires slow pace at first : Anger is like 

A full hot horse ; who being allow'd his way, 
Self-mettle tires him. 25 — i. 1. 

544 Sufferance. 

Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper 

Sprinkle cool patience. 36 — iii. 4. 

545 Virtuous conflict. 

O virtuous fight, 
When right with right wars, who shall be most right! 

26— iii. 2. 

546 The sin of suicide. 

Against self-slaughter 
There is a prohibition so divine, 
That cravens my weak hand. 31 — iii. 4. 

547 The danger of delay. 
Let's take the instant by the forward top ; 
For we are old, and on our quick'st decrees 
The inaudible and noiseless foot of time 

Steals, ere we can effect them. 11 — v. 3. 

* Old copy reads swears. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



97 



548 Tfie encouragement to hope. 

What ! we have many goodly days to see : 

The liquid drops of tears that you have shed, 

Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl ; 

Advantaging their loan with interest, 

Of ten-times-double gain of happiness. 24 — iv. 4. 

549 Equanimity. 

Weigh thy value with an even hand. 9 — ii. 7. 

550 Confidence in the future. 

Doubt not but success 
Will fashion the event in better shape 
Than I can lay it down in likelihood. 6 — iv. 1. 

551 Temperance. 

Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty : 

For in my youth I never did apply 

Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood ; 

Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo 

The means of weakness and debility ; 

Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, 

Frosty, but kindly. 10 — ii. 3. 

552 The effects of anger. 

Is your blood 
So madly hot, that no discourse of reason, 
Nor fear of bad success in a bad cause, 
Can qualify the same 7 26 — ii. 2. 

553 Fidelity. 

You should account me the more virtuous, that I 
have not been common in my love. 28 — ii. 3. 

554 The same. 

How long 
Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong 1 17 — ii. 1. 

555 Intemperance. 

Poison'd hours had bound me up 
From mine own knowledge. 30 — ii. 2. 



98 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

556 The evil of duelling. 

You undergo too strict a paradox", 

Striving to make an ugly deed look fair : 

Your words have took such pains, as if they labour'd 

To bring manslaughter into form, set quarrelling 

Upon the head of valour; which, indeed, 

Is valour misbegot, and came into the world 

When sects and factions were newly born : 

He's truly valiant, that can wisely suffer 

The worst that man can breathe ; and make his wrongs 

His outsides ; wear them like his raiment, carelessly ; 

And ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart, 

To bring it into danger. 

If wrongs be evils, and enforce us kill, 

What folly 'tis, to hazard life for ill ? 27— iii. 5. 

557 Consideration. 

Stop the rage betime, 
Before the wound do grow incurable : 
For, being green, there is great hope of help. 

22— iii. 1. 

558 Comjjassion recommended to the proud. 

Take physic, Pomp ; 
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, 
That thou may'st shake the superflux* to them, 
And show the heavens more just. 34 — iii. 4. 

559 Hie duty owing to ourselves and others. 

Love all, trust a few, 
Do wrong to none ; be able for thine enemy 
Rather in power, than use ; and keep thy friend 
Under thy own life's key ; be check'd for silence, 
But never tax'd for speech. 11 — i. 1. 

560 Self-knowledge. 

I will chide no breather in the world, but myself; 
against whom I know most faults. 10 — iii. 2. 

561 Imperfections belong to the best. 
Thou art noble ; yet, I see, 

Thy honourable metal may be wrought 

* Superfluity. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 99 

From that it is disposed :* Therefore 'tis meet 
That noble minds keep ever with their likes : 
For who so firm that cannot be seduced 1 29 — i. 2. 

562 Honourable causes need no oath. 

What other oath, 

Than honesty to honesty engaged 1 

Unto bad causes swear 
Such creatures as men doubt : but do not stain 
The even virtue of our enterprise, 
Nor th' insuppressive mettle of our spirits, 
To think, that, or our cause, or our performance, 
Did need an oath. 29 — ii. 1. 

563 News, good and had. 

Though it be honest, it is never good 
To bring bad news : Give to a gracious message 
An host of tongues : but let ill tidings tell 
Themselves, when they be felt. 30 — ii. 5. 

564 Submission. 

Ask God for temperance ; that's the appliance only, 
Which your disease requires. 25 — i. 1. 

565 Humility recommended. 

Love and meekness, 
Become a churchman better than ambition. 

25— v. 2. 

566 Forethought. 

Determine on some course, 
More than a wild exposure to each chance 
That starts i' the way before thee. 28 — iv. 1. 

567 The same. 

Since the affairs of men rest still uncertain, 
Let's reason with the worst that may befall. 

29— v. 1. 

568 The sin of ambition. 

I charge thee fling away ambition; 
By that sin fell the angels, how can man then, 
The image of his Maker, hope to win by't 1 

* Disposed to. 

LCFC 



100 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee; 

Corruption wins not more than honesty. 

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, 

To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not ! 

Let all the ends, thou aim'st at, be thy country' s, 

Thy God's, and truth's. 25— iii. 2. 

569 Jests unbecoming to age. 

How ill white hairs become a fool, and jester ! 

19— v. 5. 

570 The danger of false accusation. 

Take good heed, 
You charge not in your spleen a noble person, 
And spoil your nobler soul ! 25 — i. 3. 

571 The same. 

Be certain what you do ; lest your justice 

Prove violence. 13 — ii. 2. 

572 Frivolity. 

Out, idle words, servants to shallow fools ! 
Unprofitable sounds, weak arbitrators ! 

Poems. 

573 The advantage of sincerity. 

Taunt my faults 
With such full license, as both truth and malice 
Have power to utter. O, then we bring forth weeds, 
When our quick winds* lie still ; and our ills told us, 
Is as our earing, f 30 — i. 2. 

574 Tilings unavoidable not to be deplored. 
Be you not troubled with the time, which drives 
O'er your content these strong necessities ; 
But let determined things to destiny 

Hold unbewail'd their way. 30 — iii. 6. 

575 Suicide. 

You ever-gentle gods 
Let not my worser spiritj tempt me again 
To die before you please ! 34 — iv. 6. 

* The sense is, that man not agitated by censure, like soil not ven- 
tilated by quick winds, produces more evil than good, 
f Tilling, ploughing; prepares us to produce good seed. 
\ Corrupt nature, — a depraved nature. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 101 

576 Perseverance. 

If we shall stand still, 
In fear our motion will be mock'd or carp'd at, 
We should take root here where we sit, or sit 
State statues only. 25 — i. 2. 

577 Mildness to be used in differences. 

That which combined us was most great, and let not 

A leaner action rend us. What's amiss, 

May it be gently heard : When we debate 

Our trivial difference loud, we do commit 

Murder in healing wounds : Then, 

Touch you the sourest points with sweetest terms, 

Nor curstness* grow to the matter. 30 — ii. 2. 

578 The same. 

Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours, 
Let's not confoundf the time with conference harsh : 
There's not a minute of our lives should stretch 
Without some pleasure now. 30 — i. 1. 

579 Persuasion. 

May'st thou have the spirit of persuasion, and he 
the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may 
move, and what he hears may be believed. 

18— i. 2. 

580 Ingratitude, how extinguished. 

We sent to thee ; to give thy rages balm, 

To wipe out our ingratitude with loves 

Above their J quantity. 27 — v. 5. 

581 Kindness. 

Let your best love draw to that point, which seeks 
Best to preserve it. 30 — iii. 4. 

582 Reason to be regarded. 

Do not banish reason 
For inequality :\ but let your reason serve 
To make the truth appear, where it seems hid ; 
And hide the false, seems true. 5 — v. 1. 

* Let not ill-humour be added. t Censure. 

| Their refers to rages. § Apparent inconsistency. 

9* 



102 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

583 Praise to be bestowed seasonably. 

Praise us as we are tasted, allow us as we prove ; 
our head shall go bare, till merit crown it : no per- 
fection in reversion shall have a praise in present : we 
will not name desert, before his birth; and, being 
born, his addition* shall be humble. 26 — iii. 2. 

584 Injuries. 

We thought not good to bruise an injury, till it 
were full ripe. 20 — iii. 6. 

585 Passio?i allayed by reason. 

Be advised : 
I say again, there is no English soul 
More stronger to direct you than yourself, 
If with the sap of reason you would quench, 
Or but allay, the fire of passion. 25 — i. 1. 

586 Suspicion. 

If I mistake 
In those foundations which I build upon, 
The centref is not big enough to bear 
A schoolboy's top. 13 — ii. 1. 

587 The exuberance of lenity. 

This too much lenity 
And harmful pity, must be laid aside. 
To whom do lions cast their gentle looks 1 
Not to the beast that would usurp their den. 
Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick? 
Not his, that spoils her young before her face. 
Who 'scapes the lurking serpent's mortal sting? 
Not he, that sets his foot upon her back. 
The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on ; 
And doves will peck, in safeguard of their brood. 

23 — ii. 2. 

588 Humanity. 

I love not to see wretchedness o'ercharged, 

And duty in his service perishing. 7 — v. 1. 

* Title. 

t i. e. If the proofs which I can offer will not support the opinion 
I have formed, no foundation can be trusted. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 103 

589 Honour and policy. 

Honour and policy, like unsevered friends, 

I' the war do grow tog-ether : Grant that, and tell me, 

In peace, what each of them by th' other lose, 

That they combine not there. 28 — iii. 2. 

590 Drunkenness. 

Drinking- : I could well wish courtesy would invent 
some other custom of entertainment. 37 — ii. 3. 

591 The necessity of repose. 

These should be hours for necessities, 
Not for delights; times to repair our nature 
With comforting repose, and not for us 
To waste. 25— v. 1. 

592 Honour. 

See, that you come 
Not to woo honour, but to wed it. 11 — ii. 1. 

593 Justice to self. 

Believe not thy disdain, but presently 

Do thine own fortunes that obedient right, 

Which thy duty owes. 11 — ii. 3. 

594 Honour disinterested. 

If you shall cleave to my consent,* — when 'tis, 
It shall make honour for you. — 

So I lose none, 
In seeking to augment it, but still keep 
My bosom franchised, and allegiance clear, 
I shall be counsell'd. 15 — ii. 1. 

595 Caution in choosing friends. 

Where you are liberal of your loves, and counsels, 

Be sure, you be not loose : for those you make friends, 

And give your hearts to, when they once perceive 

The least rub in your fortunes, fall away 

Like water from ye, never found again 

But-where they mean to sink ye. 25 — ii. 1, 

* Cleav« to me constant. 



104 MORAL THILOSOrHY. 

596 Honesty misinterpreted. 

If my offence be of such mortal kind, 

That neither service past, nor present sorrows, 

Nor purposed merit in futurity, 

Can ransom me into his love again, 

But to know so must be my benefit ; 

So shall I clothe me in a forced content, 

And shut myself up in some other course, 

To fortune's alms. .37— iii. 4. 

597 Patience. 

Let us teach our trial patience, 
Because it is a customary cross. 7 — i. 1. 

598 The same. 

Oh, you blessed ministers above, 
Keep me in patience ; and with ripen'd time, 
Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up 
In countenance !* 5 — v. 1. 

599 Silent sorrow. 

Give sorrow words ; the grief, that does not speak, 
Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break. 

15— iv. 3. 

600 Kindness. 

Your gentleness shall force, 
More than your force move us to gentleness. 

10— ii. 7. 

601 An over-regard for the world. 

You have too much respect upon the world : 
They lose it, that do buy it with much care. 

9— i. 1. 

602 The necessity of mental cultivation. 

Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted ; 
Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden, 
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry. 

22— iii. 1. 

603 Forbearance. 

Now we have shown our power, 
Let us seem humbler after it is done, 
Than when it was a doing. 28 — iv. 2. 

* False appearance, hypocrisy. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 105 

604 Self-inspection. 

Yoa talk of pride ; O that you could turn your eyes 
towards the napes* of your necks, and make but an 
interior survey of your good selves ! 28 — ii. 1. 

605 Studies to be pursued according to taste and pleasure. 

Continue your resolve, . 
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy. 
Only, while we do admire 
This virtue, and this moral discipline, 
Let's be no stoics, nor no stocks, I pray ; 
Or so devote to Aristotle's checks, f 
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured ; 
Talk logic with acquaintance that you have, 
And practise rhetoric in your common talk ; 
Music and poesy use to quicken! you ; 
The mathematics, and the metaphysics, 
Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you : 
No profit grows, where is no pleasure ta'en ; — 
In brief, study what you most affect. 12 — i. 1. 

606 Action and elocution. 

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it 
to you, trippingly on the tongue : but if you mouth 
it, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor 
do not saw the air too much with your hand ; but 
use all gently : for in the very torrent, tempest, and 
(as I may say) whirlwind of your passion, you must 
acquire and beget a temperance, that may give it 
smoothness. .... Be not too tame 
neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit 
the action to the word, the word to the action ; with 
this special observance, that you o'er-step not the mo- 
desty of nature. 36 — Hi. 2. 

607 The mirror of nature. 

Hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature ; to show 
virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and 

* With allusion to the fable, which says that every man has a 
bag hanging before him, in which he puts his neighbour's faults, 
and another behind him in which he stows his own. 

t Harsh rules. Perhaps it should be ethics instead of checks. 

\ Animate. 



106 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

the very age and body of the time, his form and pres- 
sure.* 36— iii. 2. 

608 Extenuation. 

Speak of me as I am ; nothing extenuate, 

Nor set down aught in malice. 37 — v. 2. 

609 Submission to the will of God. 

Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it 

To lie that way thou go'st, not whence thou com'st. 

17— i. 3. 

610 Ingratitude. 
O, see the monstrousness of man, 

When he looks out in an ungrateful shape I 

27— iii. 2. 

611 Sincerity. 

May your deeds approve, 
That good effects may spring from words of love. 

34— i. 1. 

612 Wisdom without action. 

Of your philosophy you make no use, 

If you give place to accidental evils. 29 — iv. 3. 

613 Benediction. 

The grace of heaven, 
Before, behind thee, and on every hand, 
Enwheel thee round ! 37 — ii. 1. 

614 Nature content with little. 

O, reason not the need : our basest beggars 

Are in the poorest thing superfluous : 

Allow not nature more than nature needs, 

Man's life is cheap as beast's. 34 — ii. 4. 

615 Plea of adversity. 

If ever you have look'd on better days ; 

If ever been where bells have knoll'd to church ; 

If ever sat at any good man's feast ; 

If ever from your eyelids wiped a tear, 

And know what 'tis to pity and be pitied; 

Let gentleness my strong enforcement be. 10— ii 7. 

* Impression, resemblance. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 10 

616 Observation, 

Thou can'st tell, why one's nose stands i' the middle 
of his face 1 

Why, to keep his eyes on either side his nose ; that 
what a man cannot smell out, he may spy into. 

34— i. 5. 

617 Reverence due to wisdom. 

Those that I reverence, those I fear ; the wise : 

At fools I laugh, not fear them. 31 — iv. 2. 

618 The benefit of reparation. 

If we do now make our atonement well, 

Our peace will, like a broken limb united, 

Grow stronger for the breaking-. 19 — iv. 1. 

619 The mind to be regulated. 

Weed your better judgments 
Of all opinion that grows rank in them. 10 — ii. 7. 

620 Discretion necessary to old age. 

You are old ; 
Nature in you stands on the very verge 
Of her confine : you should be ruled and led 
JSy some discretion, that discerns your state 
Better than you yourself. 34 — ii. 4. 

621 A heart fortified by patience. 

Since he stands obdurate* 
And that no lawful means can carry me 
Out of his envy's* reach, I do oppose 
My patience to his fury ; and am arm'd 
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit, 
The very tyranny and rage of his. 9 — iv. 1. 

622 Self-examination. 

Go to your bosom ; 
Knock there ; and ask your heart what it doth know 
That's like my brother's fault : if it confess 
A natural guiltiness, such as his is, 
Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue 
Against my brother. 5 — ii. 2. 

* Hatred, malice. 



108 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

623 Precipitancy to be avoided. 

Reason with the fellow, 
Before you punish him, 

Lest, you should chance to whip your information, 
And beat the messenger, who bids beware 
Of what is to be dreaded. 28 — iv. 6. 

624 Accusation to be supported by knowledge. 

If I shall be condemn'd 
Upon surmises ; all proofs sleeping else, 
But what your jealousies awake ; I tell you, 
'Tis rigour, and not law. 13 — iii. 2. 

625 Submission. 

My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear : 

And I will stoop and humble my intents 

To your well-practised, wise intentions. 19 — v. 2. 



626 Advice to young men. 

Obey thy parents, keep thy word justly ; swear not ; 
commit not with man's sworn spouse; set not thy sweet 
heart on proud array. . . . Keep thy foot 
out of brothels, thy pen from lenders' books. 

34— iii. 4. 
527 The same. 

Give thy thoughts no tongue, 
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. 36 — i. 3. 

628 The same. 

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 36 — i. 3. 

629 The same. 

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel ; 
But do not dull thy palm* with entertainment 
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. 36 — i. 3. 

* Palm of the hand. 



5EOK-AL PHILOSOPHY. 109 

630 The same. 

Beware 
Of entrance to a quarrel ; but, being in, 
Bear it, that the opposer may beware of thee. 

36— i. 3L 

631 The same. 

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice : 
Take each man's censure,* but reserve thy judgment., 

36— i. 3. 

632 The same.. 

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 

But not express'd in fancy ; rich, not gaudy :■ 

For the«apparel oft proclaims the man. 36 — i. 3* 

633 The same. 

Neither a borrower, nor a lender be-: 
For loan oft loses both itself and friend ; 
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.! 

36— i. & 

634 The same. 

To thine ownself be true y. 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man. 36 — i. 3-, 

635 Parents to be consulted in marriage concerns. 

Reason, my son 
Should choose himself a wife ; but as good reason,. 
The father (all whose joy is nothing else 
But fair posterity) should hold some counsel 
In such a business. 13 — iv. &. 

636 Beauty transient. 

Women are as roses ; whose fair flower, 
Being once display'd, doth fall that very hour. 

4— ii. 4, 

637 The danger of dalliance. 

Do not give dalliance 
Too much the rein : the strongest oaths are straw 
To the fire i' the blood. 1— iv. 1. 

* Opinion. t Economy, thriftiness. 

10 



110 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

638 Chastity. 

The heavens hold firm 
The walls of thy dear honour ; keep unshaked 
That temple, thy fair mind. 31 — ii. 1. 

639 ~ Advice to females. 

Beware of them, Diana ; their promises, entice- 
ments, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust, 
are not the things they go under :* many a maid hath 
been seduced by them ; and the misery is, example, 
that so terrible shows in the wreck of maidenhood, 
cannot for all that dissuade succession, but they are 
limed with the twigs that threaten them. I hope, I 
need not to advise you farther ; but, I hope, your own 
grace will keep you where you are, though there were 
no farther danger known, but the modesty which is so 
lost. 11 — iii. 5. 

640 The same. 

When the blood burns how prodigal the soul 

Lends the tongue vows : these blazes, daughter, 

Giving more light than heat, — extinct in both, 

Even in their promise, as it is a making, — 

You must not take for fire. 

Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence ; 

Set your entreatmentsf at a higher rate, 

Than a command to parley. 36 — i. 4. 

641 The same. 

Do not believe his vows : for they are brokers 

Not of that die which their investments show, 

But mere imploratorsf of unholy suits, 

Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds, 

The better to beguile. 36-— i. 4. 

642 The same. 

The chariest^ maid is prodigal enough, 
If she unmask her beauty to the moon : 
Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes : 
The canker galls the infants of the spring, 

* They are not the things for which their names would make 
them pass. t Favours, objects of entreaty. 

% Implorers. § Most cautious. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. Ill 

Too oft before their buttons be disclosed ; 
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth, 
Contagious blastments are most imminent. 
Be wary then : best safety lies in fear ; 
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near. 

36— I 3. 

643 The same. 

Weigh what loss your honour may sustain, 

If with too credent* ear you listf his songs ; 

Or lose your heart ; or your chaste treasure open 

To his unmasteredj importunity. 

Fear it, fear it, 

And keep you in the rear of your affection, 

Out of the shot and danger of desire. 36 — i. 3. 

644 Example and precept. 

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, 

tShow me the steep and thorny way to heaven ; 

Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless^ libertine, 

Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, 

And recks not his own read.|| 36 — i. 3. 

645 Beauty heightened by goodness. 

The hand, that hath made you fair, hath made you 
good : the goodness, that is cheap in beauty, makes 
beauty brief in goodness ; but grace, being the soul 
of your complexion, should keep the body of it ever 
fair. 5 — iii. 1. 

646 Grief alleviated by submission to Heaven. 

Peace, ho, for shame ! confusion's cure lives not 
In these confusions. Heaven and yourself 
Had part in this fair maid ; now Heaven hath all, 
And all the better is it for the maid : 
Your part in her you could not keep from death ; 
But Heaven keeps his part in eternal life. 
The most you sought was — her promotion ; 
For 'twas your heaven, she should be advanced : 
And weep ye now, seeings he is advanced 
Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself? 

* Believing. f Listen to. J Licentious. 

§ Careless. jj Regards not his own lessons. 



112 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

O, in this love, you love your child so ill, 
That you run mad, seeing that she is well. 



35— iv..5. 



647 Conjugal affection needful in wives. 

Fie, fie, unknit that threat'ning unkind brow ; 
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes, 
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor : 
It blots thy beauty, as frosts bite the meads ; 
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds ; 
And in no sense is meet, or amiable. 12 — v. 2. 

648 The same. 

Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, 

Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee, 

And for thy maintenance : commits his body 

To painful labour, both by sea and land ■; 

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold, 

While thou liest warm at home, secure and safe, 

And craves no other tribute at thy hands, 

But love, fair looks, and true obedience^ 

Too little payment for so great a debt. 12 — v. 2. 

649 The same. 

I am ashamed, that women are so simple 
To offer war, where they should kneel for peace ; 
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway, 
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey. 
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth, 
JJnapt to toil and trouble in the world ; 
But that our soft conditions* and our hearts, 
Should .well agree with our external parts 1 

12— v. 2. 

650 The same. 

My nObie father, 
I do perceive here a divided duty : 
To you, I am bound for life, and education ; 
JMy life and education, both do learn me 
How to respect you; you are the lord of duty, 
I am hitherto your daughter: but here's my husband ; 
And so much duty as my mother show'd 
To you, preferring you before her father, 

* Gentle tempers. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. ' 113 

So much I challenge, that I may profess 

Due to my lord. 37 — i. 3. 

651 The venomous effects of jealousy. 

O beware of jealousy ; 
It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock 
The meat it feeds on. 37 — iii. 3. 

652 Equivocation. 

But yet, — 
I do not like but yet, it does allay 
The good precedence ;* fye upon but yet : 
But yet is as a gaoler to bring forth 
Some monstrous malefactor. 30 — ii. 5. 

653 Violent delights have short duration. 

Violent delights have violent ends, 
And in their triumph die; like fire and powder, 
Which, as they kiss, consume : the sweetest honey 
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness, 
And in the taste confounds the appetite : 
Therefore, love moderately ; long love doth so, 
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.f 35 — ii. 5. 

654 Delusion. 

For love of grace, 
Lay not that nattering unction to your soul ; 
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place ; 
Whiles rank corruption, mining all within, 
Infects unseen. 36— iii. 4. 

655 The force of habit. 

That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat 

Of habit's devil, is angel yet in this; 

That to the use of actions fair and good 

He likewise gives a frock, or livery, 

That aptly is put on : Refrain to-night : 

And that shall lend a kind of easiness 

To the next abstinence : the next more easy : 

For use almost can change the stamp of nature, 

And either curb the devil, or throw him out 

With wondrous potency. 36 — iii. 4. 

* Preceding. f Precipitation produces mishap. 

10* 



114 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

656 Conscience. 

Leave her to heaven, 
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, 
To prick and sting her. 36 — i. 5. 

657 Needful severity. 
Thou hast cleft my heart in twain. 

. .. O, throw away the worser part of it, 

And live the purer with the other half. 36 — iii. 4. 

658 Grief not to be cherished. 
Lay aside life-harming heaviness, 

And entertain a cheerful disposition. 17 — ii. 2. 

659 Mental anguish. 

'Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased ; 

Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ; 

Raze out the written troubles of the brain ; 

And, with some sweet oblivious antidote, 

Cleanse the foul* bosom of that perilous stuff, 

Which weighs upon the heart 1 15 — v. 3. 

660 Resignation to the will of God enjoined. 
Do not, for ever, with thy vailed lids 
Seek for thy nobler father in the dust: 

Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must die, 
Passing through nature to eternity. 36 — i. 2. 

661 The value of faithful servants. 

If I 
Had servants true about me ;f that bare eyes 
To see alike mine honour, as their profits, 
Their own particular thrifts, — they would do that, 
Which should undo more doing. 13 — i. 2. 

662 The severity of age to youth. 

You, that are old, consider not the capacities of us 
that are young ; you measure the heat of our livers 
with the bitterness of your galls. 19 — i. 2. 

663 Youth. 

Deal mildly with his youth ; 
For young hot colts, being raged, do rage the more. 

17— ii. 1. 

* AH the editions read stuff'd, which is evidently wrong. It 
should befoul bosom, as in As You Like It: "Cleanse the foul body 
of the infected world." — Act. ii. scene 7. f Eph. vi. 5 — 7. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 115 

664 Oppression to be avoided. 

Press not a falling man too far; 'tis virtue : 

His faults lie open to the laws; let them, 

Not you correct them. 25 — iii. 2. 

665 The same. 

Let us be keen, and rather cut a little, 

Than fall, and bruise to death. 5 — ii. 1. 

666 Courage and cowardice. 

Turn head, and stop pursuit : for coward dogs 

Most spend their mouths,* when what they seem to 

threaten, 
Runs far before them. 20 — ii. 4. 

667 Ingratitude. 

I hate ingratitude more in a man, 

Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, 

Or any taint of vice, whose strong corruption 

Inhabits our frail blood. 4 — iii. 4. 

668 Anger controlled. 

Pray be counsell'd : 
I have a heart as little apt as yours, 
But yet a brain, that leads my use of anger, 
To better vantage. 28 — iii. 2. 

669 Fidelity. 

Though all the world should crack their duty to you, 

And throw it from their soul ; though perils did 

Abound, as thick as thought could make them, and 

Appear in forms more horrid ; yet my duty, 

As doth a rock against the chiding flood, 

Should the approach of this wild river break, 

And stand unshaken yours. 25 — iii. 2. 

670 Kindness to be exercised. 

The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness, 

And time to speak it in ; you rub the sore, 

When you should bring the plaster. 1 — ii. 1. 

* Waste, exhaust. 



116 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

671 Benignity. 

God's benison go with you ; and with those 

That would make good of bad, and friends of foes !* 

15— ii. 4. 

672 The act of opposing one thing to another. 

Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares, 

And think, perchance, they'll sell; if not, 

The lustre of the better shall exceed, 

By showing the worse first. 26 — i. 3. 

673 Forgiveness. 

The power, that I have on you, is to spare you ; 
The malice towards you, to forgive you. 31 — v. 5. 

674 Melancholy. 

Fish not with this melancholy bait, 
For this fool's gudgeon, this opinion. 9 — i. 1. 

675 Servitude. 

Service shall with steeled sinews toil ; 
And labour shall refresh itself with hope. 20 — ii. 2. 

676 The necessity of forethought. 

In whose breast 
Doubt and suspect, alas, are placed too late : 
You should have fear'd false times, when you did 

feast : 
Suspect still comes, where an estate is least. 

27— iv. 3. 

677 Drunkenness. 

It hath pleased the devil, drunkenness, to give 
place to the devil, wrath: one imperfectness shows 
me another, to make me frankly despise myself. 

37— ii. 3. 

678 Implacability. 

Not to relent, is beastly, savage, devilish. 24 — i. 4. 

679 Simplicity's plea. 

Let me know my trespass 
By its own visage : if I then deny it, 
'Tis none of mine. 13 — i. 2. 

* Matt. v. 9. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 117 

680 Mercy. 

Like a shepherd, 
Approach the fold, and cull the infected forth. 
But kill not all together. 27 — v. 5. 

681 The wisdom of concealment. 

I will keep her ignorant of her good, 

To make her heavenly comforts of despair 

When it is least expected. 5 — iv. 3. 

682 Anger. 

Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, lest thou 
hasten thy trial. 11 — ii. 3. 

683 Past sorrows not to be cherished. 

Let us not burden our remembrances 

With a heaviness that's gone. 1 — v. 1. 

684 Magnanimity. 

Dare do all that may become a man ; 
Who dares do more is none. 15 — i. 7. 

685 Reflection. 

I would, you would make use of that good wisdom 
whereof I know you are fraught f and put away these 
dispositions, which of late transform you from what 
you rightly are. 34 — i. 4. 

686 Extremity. 

Who is't can say, I am at the worst ? 34 — iv. 1. 

687 Reason. 

Mingle reason with your passion. 34 — ii. 4. 

688 Tenderness in judging. 

Breathe his faults so quaintly, 
That they may seem the taints of liberty : 
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind; 
A sava,genessf in unreclaimed blood, 
Of general assault.]: 36 — ii. 1. 

* Stored. t WiJdness. 

% i. e. Such as youth in general is liable to. 



118 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

689 Reconciliation. 

Forget, forgive ; conclude, and be agreed. 17 — i. 1. 

690 Courage. 
Let me take away the harms I fear, 

Nor fear still to be taken. 34— i. 4. 

691 The same. 

Steel thy fearful thoughts, *■ 
And change misdoubt to resolution. 22 — iii. 1. 

692 Contamination. 

This fester'd joint cut off, the rest rest sound ; 
This, let alone, will all the rest confound. 

17— v. 3. 

693 Guilty conscience. 

Bear not along 
The clogging burden of a guilty soul. 17— i. 3. 

694 Fortitude. 

Conquer fortune's spite, 
By living low, where fortune cannot hurt you. 

23— iv. 6. 

695 Attention. 

Fasten your ears on my advisings. 5 — -lii. 1. 

696 Self-exposure. 

Be not thy tongue thy own shame's orator. 

14— iii. 2. 

697 Prudence. 

It is needful that you frame the season for your own 
harvest. 6 — i. 3. 

698 Self -discernment. 

An had you an eye behind you, you might see more 
detraction at your heels, than fortunes before you. 

4— ii. 5. 

699 The danger of extremes. 

I shunn'd the fire for fear of burning; 
And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd. 

2— i. 3. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 119 

700 El-limed counsel. 

Bid a sick man in sadness make his will ; 

Ah, word ill-urged to one that is so ill ! 35 — i. 1. 

701 Mental conflict. 
Conceit and grief and eager combat fight ; 
What wit sets down, is blotted straight with will ; 
This is too curioas-good, this blunt and ill : 
Much like, a press of people at a door, 

Throng her inventions, which shall go before. 

Poems. 

702 Guilt retaliated. 

I told ye all, 
When we first put this dangerous stone a rolling, 
'Twould fall upon ourselves.* 25 — v. 2. 

703 Passion. 

Take heed, lest by your heat you burn yourselves. 

22— v. 1. 

704 Reconciliation. 

The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts, 
But lately splinted, knit, and join'd together, 
Must gently be preserved, cherish'd, and kept. 

24— ii. 2. 

705 Mercy. 

How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend'ring none 1 

9— iv. 1. 

706 Friends parting. 
Farewell : The leisure and the fearful time 
Cuts off the ceremonious vows of love, 
And ample interchange of sweet discourse, 
Which so-long-sunder'd friends should dwell upon. 

24— v. 3. 

707 Benediction. 

What heaven more will 
That thee may furnish,f and my prayers pluck down, 
Fall on thy head ! 11— i. 1. 

708 The same. 

Prosperity be thy page ! 28 — i. 5. 

* Gen. xlii. 21, 22. 

t ' Furnish,' that may help thee with more and better qualifica- 
tions. 



120 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

709 The same. 

The best wishes, that can be forged in your 
thoughts, be servants to you ! 11 — i. 1. 

710 The same. 

The best and wholesomest spirits of the night 
Envelope you. 5 — iv. 2. 

711 The same. 

The heavens rain odours on you 1 4 — iii. 1. 

712, The same. 

The benedietion of these covering heavens 

Fall on your heads like dew 1 31 — v. 5. 



713 Devotion. 

God knows, of pure devotion.* 22 — ii. 1. 

714 Co?isolation to believers. 

Now, God be praised ! that to believing souls 
Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair i 

22 — ii. 1. 

715 Providence. 

There is a special providence in the fall of a spar- 
row. If it be now, 'tis not to come ; if it be not to 
come, it will be now ; if it be not now, yet it will 
come : the readiness is all. 36 — v. 2. 

716 Divine superintendence. 

Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, [us, 

When our deep plots do pall ;f and that should teach 

* John iv. 24. Phil. iii. 3. f Fail. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 121 

There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 

Rough-hew them how we will. 36 — v. 2. 

717 Grace. 

Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell ; 
Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace 
Yet grace must still look so. 15 — iv. 3. 

718 The same. 

That word — grace, 
In an ungracious mouth, is but profane. 17 — ii. 3. 

719 The soul. 

The immortal part needs a physician ; though that 
be sick, it dies not. 19 — ii. 2. 

720 Death. 

'Tis a vile thing to die, 
When men are unprepared, and look not for it. 

24— iii. 2. 

721 The same. 

Men must endure 
Their going hence, even as their coming hither : 
Ripeness is all. 34 — v. 2. 

722 The same. 

Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, 
When death's approach is seen so terrible ! 

22— iii. 3. 

723 Hypocrisy. 

Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul, 

To counsel me to make my peace with God, 

And art thou yet to thv own soul so blind, 

That thou wilt war with God 1* 24— i. 4. 

724 The brevity of life. 

The time of life is short ; 
To spend that shortness basely, were too long, 
If life did ride upon a dial's point, 
Still ending at the arrival of an hour. 18 — v. 2. 

* Ps. lv. 21. 
11 



122 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

725 Supplication. 

Whereto serves mercy, 
But to confront the visage of offence ? 
And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force, — 
To be forestalled, ere we come to fall, 
Or pardon'd, being down ? 36 — iii. 3. 

726 God the cause of all causes. 

He that of greatest works is finisher, 

Oft does them by the weakest minister: 

So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown, 

When judges have been babes.* Great floods have 

flown 
From simple sources ;f and great seas have dried, 
When miracles have by the greatest been denied. % 
Oft expectation fails, and most oft there 
Where most it promises ; and oft it hits, 
Where hope is coldest, and despair most sits. 

It is not so with Him that all things knows, 

As 'tis with us that square our guess by shows : 

But most it is presumption in us, when 

The help of Heaven we count the act of men. % 

11— ii. 1. 

727 Fall of man and redemption. 

All the souls that were, were forfeit once ;§ 
And He, that might the vantage best have took, 
Found out the remedy \\\ How would you be, 
If He, which is the top of judgment, should 
But judge you as you are ?1F O, think on that, 
And mercy then will breathe within your lips, 
Like man new made.** 5 — ii. 2. 

728 Mercy. 

The quality of mercy is not strain'd : 

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 

* An allusion to Daniel judging the two elders. See also Matt. 
xi.25,and 1 Cor. i. 27. 

f i. e. When Moses smote the rock in Horeb. — Exod. xvii. 5, 6, &c. 

% Referring to the children of Israel passing the Red Sea, when 
miracles had been denied by Pharaoh. 

§ Rom. iii. 10—23. || John iii. 16. 

IT Ps. exxx. 3. ** Eph. iv. 24—32. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 123 

Upon the place beneath :* it is twice bless'd ; 

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : 

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes 

The throned monarch better than his crown : 

His sceptre shows the force of temporal .power, 

The attribute to awe and majesty, 

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ; 

But mercy is above the scepter'd sway, 

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings ; 

It is an attribute to God himself;! 

And earthly power doth then show likest God's, 

When mercy seasons justice. 

Consider this, — 
That in the course of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy ; 
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy. f 9 — iv. 1. 

729 God's mercies to be remembered. 
Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass, 
But still remember what the Lord hath done. 

22— ii. 1. 

730 The same. 

Heaven set ope thy everlasting gates, 
To entertain my vows of thanks and praise ! 

22— iv. 9. 

731 Provocation against Heaven. 
The heavens do low'r upon you, for some ill ; 
Move them no more, by crossing their high will.§ 

35— iv. 5. 

732 Divine judgment. 

If my suspect be false, forgive me, God ; 

For judgment only doth belong to thee ! 22 — iii. 2. 

733 Condemnation. 

Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all. 22 — iii. 3. 

734 The terrors of guilt in death. 
O thou eternal Mover of the heavens, 
Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch ! 

* Mercy is seasonable in the time of affliction, as clouds of rain 
in the time of drought.— Eccles. xxxv. 20. f Micah vii. 18. 

% Matt. vi. 12, 14, 15. § Deut. ix. 8. Ps. cvi. 43. 



124 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

O, beat away the busy meddling fiend, 

That lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul, 

And from this bosom purge this black despair ! 

S 22-iii.3. 

735 The danger of trifling before God. 

Take heed, you dally not before your king ; 
Lest He, that is the supreme King of kings, 
Confound your hidden falsehood. 24 — ii. 1. 

736 Murder. 

The great King of kings 
Hath in the table of his law commanded, 
That thou shalt do no murder. 
Take heed ; for he holds vengeance in his hand, 
To hurl upon their heads that break his law. 

24— i. 4. 

737 The same. 

Blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries, 
Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth.* 

17— i. 1. 

738 Submissio?i to God's will. 

Put we our quarrel to the will of Heaven, 
Who, when he sees the hours ripe on earth, 
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads. 

17— i. 2. 

739 The same. 

God will be avenged for the deed ; 
Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm ; 
He needs no indirect nor lawless course, 
To cut off those that have offended him. 24 — i. 4. 

740 Trust i?i Providence. 

He that hath the steerage of my course, 

Direct my sail !f 35 — i. 4. 

741 Reformation. 

Confess yourself to heaven ; 
Repent what's past : avoid what is to come \\ 
And do not spread the compost^ on the weeds, 
To make them ranker. 36 — iii. 4. 

*Gen.iv. 10. t Prov. iii. 6. 

X Matt. iii. 8. § Manure. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 125 

742 True repentance. 

Arraign your conscience, 
And try your penitence, if it be sound, 
Or hollowly put on. 

But lest you do repent, 
As that the sin hath brought you to this shame,* — 
Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven ; 
Showing, we'd not spare heaven,f as we love it, 
But as we stand in fear. > 5 — ii. 3. 

743 The same 

Try what repentance can :| What can it not? 
Yet what can it, when one can not repent ? 
O wretched state ! O bosom, black as death ! 

limed soul, that, struggling to be free, 

Art more engaged ! 36 — iii. 3. 

744 False repentance. 

When I would pray and think, I think and pray 

To several subjects : Heaven in my mouth, 

As if 1 did but only chew His name ; 

And in my heart, the strong and swelling evil 

Of my conception. 5 — ii. 4. 

745 The same. 

Pray, can I not, 
Though inclination be as sharp as will ; 
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent ; 
And, like a man to double business bound, 

1 stand in pause where I shall first begin, 

And both neglect. 36 — iii. 3. 

7,46 The same. 

May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence 1 
In the corrupted currents of this world, 
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice ; 
And oft tis seen, the wicked prize, itself 
Buys out the law : But 'tis not so above : 
There is no shuffling, there the action lies 
In his true nature ; and we ourselves compell'd 

* 1 Cor. vii. 10. f Spare to offend heaven. \ Rom. ii. 5. 

11* 



126 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, 

To give in evidence. 36 — iii. 3. 

747 The same. 

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below : 
Words, without thoughts, never to heaven go. 

36— iii. 3. 

748 God's care over his creatures. 

He that doth the ravens feed, 
Yea, providently caters for the sparrow,* 
Be comfort to my age ! 10 — ii. 3. 

749 Conversion. 

I do not shame 
To tell you what I was, since my conversion 
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am. 10 — iv. 3. 

750 Submission to the Divine will. 

I shall be well content with any choice, 
Tends to God's glory, and my country's weal. 

21— v. 1. 

751 God the Christian's hope. 

God shall be my hope, 
My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet.f 

22— ii. 3. 

752 Self-abasement. 

Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride ; 

Giving full trophy, signal, and ostent, 

Quite from himself, to God. 20 — v. 1. 

753 Pleading with God. 

Withhold thine indignation, mighty Heaven, 
And tempt us not to bear above our power !| 

16— v. 6. 

754 God the widow's friend. 

Heaven, the widow's champion and defence. § 

17— i. 2. 

* Matt. vi. 26. t Ps. xxxvii_39.— xlvi. 1.— cxix. 105. 

. t 1 Cor. x. 13. § Exod. xxii. 22, 23. Ps. Ixviii. 5. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 127 

755 Heaven. 

Heaven, 
The treasury of everlasting joy ! 22 — ii. 1. 

756 Divine sovereignty. 

The words of heaven ; — on whom it will, it will; 
On whom it will not, so ; yet still 'tis just.* 5 — i. 3. 

757 Grace. 

Chosen from above, 
By inspiration of celestial grace. 21 — v. 4. 

758 Want of resignation. 

God is much displeased, 
That you take with unthankfulness his doing- ; 
In common worldly things, 'tis call'd — ungrateful, 
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt, 
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent ; 
JVluch more to be thus opposite with heaven, 
For it requires the debt it lent you.f 24 — ii. 2. 

759 Authority given from God. 

From whom hast thou this great commission 1 
From that supernal Judge, that stirs good thoughts 
In any breast of strong authority, 
To look into the blots and stains of right. 16 — ii. 1. 

760 Faith in supernatural power. 

What impossibility would slay 

In common sense, sense saves another way.| 

11— ii. 1. 

761 The evil of feigned prayer. 

That high All-seer which I dallied with, 
Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head, 
And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest. 
Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men 
To turn their own points on their master's bosoms. 

24— v. 1. 

* Rom. ix. 15. — It shows that Shakspeare had a most correct idea 
of the nature of Divine sovereignty, 
t Job i. 21. t Rom. iv. 18—21. 



128 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

762 Divine protection. 

If angels fight, 
Weak men must fall ; for heaven still guards the 
right. 17— iii. 2. 

763 Sincere devotion. 
When holy and devout religious men, 

Are at their beads,* 'tis hard to draw them thence : 
So sweet is zealous contemplation. 24 — iii. 7. 

764 Triumph over death. 

Holy 
Men, at their death, have good inspirations.! 

9— i. 2. 

765 The evil of contention between Christians. 

I always thought, 
It was both impious and Unnatural, 
That such immanityj and bloody strife 
Should reign among professors of one faith. 

766 Obduracy. 

If when you make your prayers, 
God should be so obdurate as yourselves, 
How would it fere with your departed souls ^ 

22— iv. 7. 

767 Earthly crosses and cares. 
Comfort's in heaven ; and we are on the earth, 
Where nothing lives but crosses, care, and grief. 

17— ii. 2. 

768 Humility. 

More will I do : 
Though all that I can do is nothing worth ;|| 
Since that my penitence comes after all, 
Imploring pardon. 20 — iv. 1. 

769 Joy in death. 

My joy is — death; 
Death, at whose name I oft have been afeard, 
Because I wish'd this world's eternity. IT 22— ii. 4. 

* Prayers. \ Gen. xlix. 18 ; 1. 24. 1 Cor. xv. 55. 

J Barbarity, savageness. § Ps. cxxx. 3. 

|| Luke xvii. 10. IT Luke xvii. 33. John xii. 25. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 129 

770 TJie same. 

To sue to live, I find, I seek to die ; 

And seeking death, find life.* 5 — iii. 1. 

771 Devotional retirement. 
I myself will lead a private life, 

And in devotion spend my latter days, 
To sin's rebuke, and my Creator's praise.f 

23— iv. 6. 

772 Joyous expectation of death. 

I every day expect an embassage 

From my Redeemer to redeem me hence4 

24— ii. 1. 



773 Shalispeare 1 s humility. 

No longer mourn for me when I am dead, 

Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell 

Give warning to the world that I am fled 

From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell : 

Nay, if you read this line, remember not 

The hand that writ it ; for I love you so 

That I in your sweet thoughts w T ould be forgot, 

If thinking on me then should make you woe. 

O if (I say) you look upon this verse, 

When I perhaps compounded am with clay, 

Do not so much as my poor name rehearse ! 

But let your love even with my life decay : 

Lest the wise world should look into your moan, 

And mock you with me after I am gone. 

Poems. 

774 The same. 

O, lest the world should task you to recite 
What merit lived in me, that you should love 
After my deaths — dear love, forget me quite, 
For you in me can nothing worthy prove ; 

* Phil. i. 21. t -A holy resolution. J Jarae3 iv. 14. 



130 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Unless you would devise some virtuous lie, 
To do more for me than mine own desert, 
And hang more praise upon deceased I, 
Than niggard truth would willingly impart ; 
O, lest your true love may seem false in this, 
That you for love speak well of me untrue, 
My name be buried where my body is, 
And live no more to shame nor me nor you. 
For I am shamed by that which I bring forth, 
And so should you, to love things nothing worth. 

Poems. 

775 His detestation of a theatrical life. 
Alas, 'tis true, I have gone here and there, 
And made myself a motley to the view, 

Gored mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most 
Made old offences of affections new. [dear, 

Most true it is, that I have look'd on truth 
Askance and strangely ; but, by all above, 
These blenches gave my heart another youth, 
And worse essays proved thee my best of love. 
Now all is done, save what shall have no end : 
Mine appetite I never more will grind 
On newer proof, to try an older friend, 
A God in love, to whom I am confined. 
Then give me welcome, next my heaven the best, 
E'en to thy pure and most loving breast. 

Poems. 

776 The same. 

O for my sake do thou with Fortune chide,* 
The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds, 
That did not better for my life provide, 
Than public means, which public manners breeds. 
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand, 
And almost thence my nature is subdued 
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand. 
Pity me then, and wish I were renew'd ; 
Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink 
Potions of eysell,f 'gainst my strong infection ; 

* The editor is confident that our author, who was so sound a mo- 
ralist, meant not by what he here says, to cast any reflection on 
Divine Providence. The expressions made use of are merely poeti- 
cal : Fortune, in the language of poetry, is an imaginary being, 
supposed to distribute the lots of life according to her own humour. 

f Vinegar. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



131 



No bitterness that I will bitter think, 
Nor double penance to correct correction. 

777 His cure of self-love. 

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye, 
And all my soul, and all my every part ; 
And for this sin there is noremedy, 
It is so grounded inward in my heart. 
Methinks no face so gracious is as mine, 
No shape so true, no truth of such account ; 
And for myself mine own worth do define, 
As 1 all other in all worths surmount. 
But when my glass, shows me myself indeed, 
Beated and chopp'd with tann'd antiquity, 
Mine own self-love quite contrary I read, 
Self so self-loving were iniquity. 



Poems. 



Poems. 



778 



Contemplation on the shortness of life. 



That time of year thou may'st in me behold, 
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang, 
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, 
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. 
In me thou seest the twilight of such day 
As after sun-set fadeth in the west; 
Which by and by black night doth take aw 7 ay, 
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. 
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire, 
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie ; 
As the death-bed whereon it must expire, 
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by. 



Poems. 



779 An apostrophe to his soul. 

Poor Soul, the centre of my sinful earth,* 
Fool'd by those rebel powers that thee array, 
Why dost thou pine within, and suffer dearth, 
Painting thy outward loalls so costly gay ? 
Why so large cost, having so short a lease,f 
Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend 1 
Shall worms, inheritors of this excess, 
Eat up thy charge 1 Is this thy Body's end 1 



* 'Vile body.' Phil. iii. 1. 



t Ps. xc. 10. 



132 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Then, Soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss, 

And let that pine to aggravate thy store ; 

Buy terms Divine in selling hours of dross; 

Within be fed,* without be rich no more : 

So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men :f 

And, death once dead, there's no more dying then. 

Poems. 
780 The foundation of Ms faith and hope in Christ alone. 

" In the name of God, amen. I, William Shak- 
speare, at Stratford-upon-Avon, in the county of 
Warwick, gent. ; in perfect health and, memory God 
be praised ! do make and ordain this, my last will and 
testament, in manner and form following ; that is to 
say: 

" Fif st, I commend my soul into the hands of God 
my creator, hoping, and assuredly believing, through 
the only merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, to be 
made partaker of life everlasting ; and my body to the 
earth whereof it is made." 

From his Will. 

* Feeding upon Christ by faith. 

f Luke x.x. 36—55. 1 Cor. xv. 55. Rev. xxi. 4. 



DELINEATIONS 



CHARACTER. 



" The mind of Shakspeare was as a magic mirror, in which 
all human nature's possible forms and combinations were 
present, intuitively and inherently — not conceived — but as 
connatural portions of his own humanity." 

Quarterly Review. 

I set you up a glass, 
Where you may see the inmost part of you. 

36— iii. 4. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS, 

ACCORDING TO THEIR RESPECTIVE VIRTUES AND 
ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 



It much repairs* me 
To talk of your good father : In his youth 
He had the wit, which I can well observe 
To-day in our young lords ; but they may jest, 
Till their own scorn return to them unnoted, 
Ere they can hide their levity in honour. 
So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness 
Were in his pride or sharpness ; if they were, 
His equal had awakened them ; and his honour 
Clock to itself, knew the true minute, when 
Exception bid him speak, and, at this time, 
His tongue obeyed his hand : who were below him, 
He used as creatures of another place, 
And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks, 
Making them proud of his humility, 
In their poor praise he humbled : Such a man 
Might be a copy to these younger times ; 
Which follow'd well, would demonstrate them now 
But goers backward. 

5|C JjC 5}£ ij£ rfZ ^C 

His plausive words 
He scatter'd not in ears, but grafted them, 
To grow there, and to bear, — Let me not live, — 
Thus his good melancholy oft began, 
On the catastrophe and heel of pastime, 
When it was out, — let me not live, quoth he, 
After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff 

* To repair, signifies to renovate. 



136 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses 
All but new things disdain ; whose judgments are 
Mere fathers* of their garments ; whose constancies 
Expire before their fashions. 11 — i. 2. 



A son who is the theme of honour's tongue ; 
Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant ; 
Who is sweet fortune's minion, and her pride. 

18— i. 1. 
3 

He is gracious, if he be observed ;f 

He hath a tear for pity and a hand 

Open as day for melting charity ; 

Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint ; 

As humorous as winter,]; and as sudden 

As flaws congealed in the spring of day. 

His temper, therefore, must be well observed; 

Chide him for faults, an/1 do it reverently, 

When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth : 

But, being moody, give him line and scope ; 

Till that his passions, like a whale on ground, 

Confound themselves with working. 19 — iv. 4. 

4 

Never a man's thought in the world keeps the road- 
way better than thine. 19 — ii. 2. 

5 

The tide of blood in me 
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity, till now : 
Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the sea ; 
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods, 
And flow henceforth in formal majesty. 19— v. 2. 

6 

I have spirit to do any thing that appears not foul 
in the truth of my spirit. 5 — iii. 1. 

7 

This fellow's of exceeding honesty, 

* Perhaps feathers. \ Has an attention shown him. 

t He abounds in capricious fancies, as winter abounds in mois- 
ture. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 137 

And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit, 

Of human dealings. 37 — iii. 3. 

8 

I suppose him virtuous, know him noble, 
Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth; 
In voices well-divulged,* free, learn'd, and valiant, 
And, in dimension, and the shape of nature, 
A gracious person. 4 — i. 5. 

9 

Your desert speaks loud, and I shall wrong it, 

To lock it in the wards of covert bosom, 

When it deserves with characters of brass 

A forted residence, 'gainst the tooth of time, 

And razure of oblivion. 5 — v. 1. 

10 

The man is noble, and his fame folds in 

This orb o' the earth. 28— v. 5. 

11 

There is a kind of character in thy life, 
That, to the observer, doth thy history 
Fully unfold. 5— i. 1. 

12 

Thou Jiad'st rather 
Follow thine enemy in a fiery gulf, 
Than flatter him in a bower. 28 — iii. 2. 

13 

In thy face I see 
The map of honour, truth, and loyalty. 22 — iii. 1. 

14 

He's gentle ; never schooled, and yet learned ; full 
of noble device ; of all sortsf enchantingly beloved. 

10— i. 1. 

15 

He is precise ; 
Stands at a guard| with envy; scarce confesses, 

* Well spoken of by the world, f Of all ranks. J On his defence. 

12* 



138 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

That his blood flows, or that his appetite 

Is more to bread than stone. 5 — i. 4. 

16 

My blood that hath been too cold and temperate, 

Unapt to stir at these indignities, 

And you have found me; for, accordingly, 

You tread upon my patience ; but, be sure, 

I will from henceforth rather by myself, 

Mighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition ;* 

Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down, 

And therefore lost that title of respect, 

Which the proud soul ne'er pays, but to the proud. 

18— i. 3. 
17 

He doth rely on none ; 
But carries on the stream of his dispose, 
Without observance or respect of any, 
In will peculiar and in self-admission. 26 — ii. 3. 

18 

I have of late (but, wherefore, 1 know not), lost all 
my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises : and, in- 
deed, it goes so heavily with my disposition, that this 
goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a steril promon- 
tory ; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, 
this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof 
fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other 
thing to me, than a foul and pestilent congregation of 
vapours. 36 — ii. 2. 

19 

My love doth so approve him, 
That even his stubbornness, his checks, and frowns, 
Have grace and favour in them. 37 — iv. 3. 

20 
Whose nature is so far from doing harms, 
That he suspects none. 34 — i. 2. 

21 
His years but young, but his experience old ; 
His head unmellow'd, but his judgment ripe ; 

* Disposition. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 139 

And, in a word, (for far behind his worth 

Come all the praises that I now bestow,) 

He is complete in feature, and in mind, 

With all good grace to grace a gentleman. 2 — ii. 4. 

22 

As nearly as I may, 
I'll play the penitent to you ; but mine honesty 
Shall not make poor my greatness, nor my power 
Work without it* 30— ii. 2. 

23 
His honesty rewards him in itself. 27 — i. 1. 

24 

'Twere a concealment 
Worse than a theft, no less than a traducement, 
To hide your doings ; and to silence that, 
Which, to the spire and top of praises vouch'd, 
Would seem but modest. 28 — i. 9. 

25 
A man, 
More sinn'd against, than sinning. 34 — iii. 2. 

26 

A well-accomplish'd youth, 
Of all, that virtue love, for virtue loved : 
Most power to do most harm, least knowing- ill ; 
For he hath wit to make an ill shape good, 
And shape to win grace though he had no wit. 

8— ii. 1. 
27 

He hath so planted his honours in their eyes, and 
his actions in their hearts, that for their tongues to be 
silent, and not confess so much, were a kind of in- 
grateful injury ; to report otherwise, were a malice, 
that giving itself the lie, would pluck reproof and re- 
buke from every ear that heard it. 28 — ii. 2. 

28 
A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman, 

* Nor my greatness work without mine honesty. 



140 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

Framed in the prodigality of nature, 

Young, valiant, wise, and no doubt, right royal, — 

The'spacious world cannot again afford. 24 — i. 2. 

29 

His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles; 
His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate ; 
His tears, pure messengers sent from his heart ; 
His heart as far from fraud, as heaven from earth. 

2— ii. 7. 
30 

Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face 
Bears a command in't : though thy tackle's torn, 
Thou show'st a noble vessel. 28 — iv. 5. 

31 

Were I a common laugher, or did use 
To stale with ordinary oaths my love 
To every new protester; if you know, 
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard, 
And after scandal them ; then hold me dangerous. 

29— i. 2. 
32 

He was gentle, but unfortunate ; 

Dishonestly afflicted, but yet honest. 31 — iv. 2. 

33 

You are yoked with a lamb, 
That carries anger, as the flint bears fire ; 
Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark, 
And straight is cold again. 29 — iv. 3. 

34 

Thou mine of bounty. 30 — iv. 6. 

35 

His love was an eternal plant ;* 
Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground, 
The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun ; 
Exempt from envy,f but not from disdain. 23 — iii. 3. 

* A perennial one. f Malice, or hatred. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 141 

36 

If I, for my opinion bleed, 
Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt, 
And keep me on the side where still I am. 

21— ii. 4. 
37 

He was too good to be 
Where ill men were ; and was the best of all 
Amongst the rar'st of good ones. 31 — v. 5. 

38 

A true knight ; 
Not yet mature, yet matchless ; firm of word ; 
Speaking in deeds, and deedless* in his tongue ; 
Not soon provoked, nor, being provoked, soon calm'd: 
His heart and hand both open, and both free ; 
For what he has, he gives, what thinks, he shows ; 
Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty, 
Nor dignifies an impairf thought with breath. 

26— iv. 5. 
39 

I have been 
The book of his good acts, whence men have read 
His fame unparallel'd, haply, amplified ; 
For I have ever verifiedj my friends, 
(Of whom he's chief,) with all the size that verity^ 
Would without lapsing suffer : nay, sometimes, 
Like to a bowl upon a subtlell ground, 
I have tumbled past the throw ; and in his praise 
Have, almost, stamp'd the leasing. IT 28 — v. ii. 

40 

The grosser manner of these world's delights 
He throws upon the gross world's baser slaves. 

8— i. 1. 
41 

There's something in me, that reproves my fault ; 

But such a headstrong potent fault it is, 

That it but mocks reproof. 4 — iii. 4. 

* No boaster. t Unsuitable to his character. 

X Proved to. § Truth. j| Deceitful. IT Lie. 



142 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

42 

His noble hand 
Did win what he did spend. 17 — ii. 1. 

43 

A most incomparable man ; breath'd,* as it were, 
To an untirable and continuate goodness. 27 — i. 1. 

44 

I have professed me thy friend, and I confess me 
knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable tough- 
ness. 37 — i. 3. 

45 

He was not born to shame ; 
Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit ; 
For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd 
Sole monarch of the universal earth. - 35 — iii. 2. 

46 

Be'st thou sad, or merry, 
The violence of either thee becomes 
So does it no man else. 30 — i. 5. 

47 
The trust I have is in mine innocence, 
And therefore am I bold and resolute- 22 — iv. 4. 

48 

The gravity and stillness of your youth 

The world hath noted, and your name is great 

In mouths of wisest eensure. 37 — ii. 3. 

49 

He is one 
The truest manner'd ; such a holy witch, 
That he enchants societies unto him : 
Half all men's hearts are his. 31 — i. 7. 

50 
Have you not set mine honour at the stake, 

* Inured by constant practice. 



NOELE CHARACTERS. 



143 



And baited it with all th' unmuzzled thoughts, 

That tyrannous heart can think 1 4 — iii. 1. 

51 

He reads much ; 
He is a great observer, and he looks 
Quite through the deeds of men : he loves no plays, 
He hears no music : 

Seldom he smiles ; and smiles in such a sort, 
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit 
That could be moved to smile at any thing. 29 — i. 2. 

52 

Be assured, you'll find a difference, 
Between the promise of his greener days, 
And these he masters now ; now he weighs time, 
Even to the utmost grain. 20 — ii. 4. 

53 

I am not a day of season,* 
For thou may'st see a sunshine and a hail 
In me at once : but to the brightest beams 
Distracted clouds give way. 11 — v. 3. 



54 

I am richer than my base accusers, 
That never knew what truth meant. 25 — ii. 1. 

55 

He wears the rose 
Of youth upon him ; from which the world should note 
Something particular. 30 — iii. 11. 

56 
His foes are so enrooted with his friends, 
That, plucking to unfix an enemy, 
He doth unfasten so, and shake a friend. 19 — iv. 1. 

57 

Let his lack of years, be no impediment to let him 
lack a reverend estimation ; for I never knew so young 
a body with so old a head. 9 — iv. 1. 

* i. e. Of uninterrupted rain. 



144 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

58 

I espy 
Virtue with valour couched in thine eye. 17 — i. 3. 

59 
While others fish with craft for great opinion, 
I with great truth catch mere simplicity ;* 
Whilst some with cunning gild their copper crowns, 
With truth and plainness I do wear mine hare. 
Fear not my truth; the moral of my wit 
Is — plain, and true, — there's all the reach of it. 

26— iv. 4. 

60 

An honest man he is, and hates the slime 

That sticks on filthy deeds. 37— v. 2. 

61 
I am not of that feather, to shake off 
My friend when he must need me.f 27 — i. 1. 

62 
As my hand has open'd bounty to you, 
My heart dropp'd love, my power rain'd honour. 

25— iii. 2. 

63 

What 1 did, I did in honour, 
Led by the impartial conduct of my soul ; 
And never shall you see, that I will beg 
A ragged and forestall'd remission.! 19 — v. 2. 

64 

What thou would'st highlv, 
That would'st thou holily. 15— i. 5. 

65 

I have ever loved the life removed ;§ 
And held in idle price to haunt assemblies, 
Where youth, and cost, and witless bravery, keeps. || 

5— i. 4. 

* While others, by their art, gain high estimation, I, by honesty, 
obtain a plain simple approbation. 

t Cannot but want my assistance. 

J Ifhe will grant me pardon unasked, so— if not, I will not con- 
descend to solicit it. § Retired. |j Showy dress resides. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 145 

66 

What a beggar his heart is, 
Being of no power to make his wishes good ; 
His promises fly so beyond his state, 
That what he speaks is all in debt, he owes 
For every word. 27 — i. 2. 

67 

Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly 
Was fashion'd to much honour. From his cradle, 
He was a scholar, and a ripe, and good one ; 
Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading : 
Lofty, and sour, to them that loved him not ; 
But to those men that sought him, sweet as summer. 

25— iv. 2. 
68 

That art most rich, being poor ; 
Most choice forsaken ; and most loved despised ! 

34— i. 1, 
69 

I' have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, 
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, 
To stir men's blood : I only speak right on. 

29— iii. 2. 
70 

I was created with a stubborn outside, with an 
aspect of iron, that, when I come to woo ladies, I 
fright them. But, in faith, the elder I wax, the better 
I shall appear : my comfort is, that old age, that ill 
layer-up of beauty, can do no more spoil upon my 
face : thou hast me, if thou hast me, at the worst ; 
and thou shalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and 
better ; and therefore tell me, will you have me 1 

20— v. 2. 
71 

His summer leaves all faded. 
By envy's hand. 17 — i. 2. 

72 

I have seen the day of wrong through the little 
hole of discretion. 8 — v. 2. 

13 



146 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

73 

I am constant as the northern star, 

Of whose true-fix.'d, and resting quality, 

There is no fellow in the firmament. 29 — iii. 1. 

74 
The thorny point 
Of bare distress hath ta'en from me the show 
Of smooth civility. 10— ii. 7. 

75 
Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens, 
That one day bloom'd and fruitful were the next. 

21— i. 6. 
76 

If I lose mine honour, 
I lose myself. 3— iii. 4. 

77 

'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour ; 
Mine honour, it. 30 — ii. 7. 

78 

'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait ; 
He rises on the toe : that spirit of his 
In aspiration lifts him from the earth. 26 — iv. 5. 

79 

I know not, 
What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face ; 
But in my bosom shall she never come, 
To make my heart her vassal. 30 — ii. 6. 

80 

You shall find, his vanities fore-spent* 
Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus, 
Covering discretion with a coat of folly; 
As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots, 
That shall first spring, and be most delicate.f 

20— ii. 4. 

* Wasted, exhausted. 

t What justness, beauty and dignity, in a base comparison! It 
is recorded of the expeller of the Tarquins, that he presented em- 
blematically at Delphos, a solid rod of gold enclosed in a rough 
wooden staff. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 147 

81 

A man by his own alms empoison'd, 
And with his charity slain. 28 — v. 5. 

82 

He was a man, take him for all in all, 

I shall not look upon his like again. 36 — i. 2. 

83 

His large fortune, 
Upon his good and gracious nature hanging, 
Subdues and properties to his love and tendance 
All sorts of hearts. 27 — i. 1. 

84 

He's honourable, 
And, doubling that, most holy. 31 — iii. 4. 

85 

Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle, 

Thou hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time. 

26— iv. 5. 

86 

Because I cannot flatter, and speak fair, 

Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive, and cog, 

Duck with French nods and apish courtesy, 

I must be held a rancorous enemy. 

Cannot a plain man live, and think no harm, 

But thus his simple truth must be abused 

By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks 1 24 — i. 3. 

87 

I earn that I eat, get that I wear ; owe no man 
hate, envy no man's happiness ; glad of other men's 
good, content with my harm. 10 — iii. 2. 

88 

I care not, (so much I am happy 
Above a number,) if my actions 
Were tried by every tongue, every eye saw them, 
Envy and base opinion set against them, 
I know my life so even. 25 — iii. 1. 



148 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

89 

Thou art a fellow of a good respect ; 

Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it.. 

29— v. 5. 

90 

Your very goodness and your company, 
O'erpays all I can do. 31— ii. 4. 

91 

I was amazed* 
Under the tide : but now I breathe again 
Aloft the flood ; and can give audience 
To any tongue, speak it of what it will. 16 — iv. 2. 

92 m 

I am fallen out with my more headier will, 

To take the indisposed and sickly fit 

For the sound man. 34 — ii. 4. 

93 

Mine honour is my life ; both grow in one ; 
Take honour from me, and my life is done. 

94 

We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind, 
That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff, 
And good from bad find no partition. 19 — iv. 1. 

95 

For life, I prize it, 
As I weigh grief, which I would spare : for honour, 
'Tis a derivative from me to mine, 
And only that 1 stand for. j 13 — iii. 2. 

96 

The breath no sooner left his father's body, 
But that his wildness, mortified in him, 
Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment, 
Consideration like an angel came, 

* Stunned, confounded. 

f'The glory of a man, is from the honour of his father." — Ec- 
clus. iii. 11. 



17— i. 1. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 149 

And whipp'd the offending Adam* out of him ; 

Leaving his body as a paradise, 

To envelope and contain celestial spirits. 20 — i. 1. 

97 

Poor honest lord, brought low by his own heart ; 
Undone by goodness ! Strange, unusual bloody- 
When man's worst sin is, he does too much good ! 
Who dares then to be half so kind again 1 
For bounty that makes gods, does still mar men. 

27— iv. 2. 

98 

If hearty ^sorrow 
Be a sufficient ransom for offence, 
I tender it here ; I do as truly suffer, 
As e'er I did commit. 2 — v. 4. 

99 

I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as 
mine honesty puts it to utterance. 13 — i. 1. 

100 

He is the rock, the oak not to be wind -sha ken. 

28— v. 2. 

101 

I had as lief not be, as live to be 

In awe of such a thing as I myself. 29 — i. 2. 

102 

I and my bosom must debate awhile, 

And then I would no other company. 20 — iv. 1. 

103 

The good I stand on is my truth, and honesty. 

If they shall fail, I, with mine enemies, 

Will triumph o'er my person : which I weigh]; not, 

Being of those virtues vacant. 25 — v. 1. 

* The old man of sin. Man in an unregenerate state. Luke xv. 
17, 18, 19. 
f Propensity, disposition. J Value. 

13* 



150 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

104 

My endeavours 
Have ever come too short of my desires, 
Yet filed with my abilities * 25— iii. 2. 

105 

Read not my blemishes in the world's report. 

30— ii. 3. 

106 
'Tis mu ch he dares ; 
And to that dauntless temper of his mind, 
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour 
To act in safety. 15 — iii. 1. 

107 

I study, 
Virtue, and that part of philosophy 
Will I apply, that treats of happiness, 
By virtue 'specially to be achieved. 12 — i. 1. 

108 

You are a gentleman of excellent breeding, admi- 
rable discourse, of great admittance,! authentic in 
your place and person, generally allowed for your many 
war-like, court-like, and learned preparations. 

3— ii. 2. 
109 

A man of sovereign parts he is esteem'd! 
Well fitted in the arts, glorious in arms ; 
Nothing becomes him ill, that he would well. 
The only soil of his fair virtue's gloss, 
(If virtue's gloss will stain with any soil,) 
Is a sharp wit match'd with| too blunt a will : 
Whose edge hath power to cut, whose will still wills 
It should none spare that come within his power. 

8— ii. 1. 
110 

He 

Is valiant, and dejected ; and, by starts, 

* My endeavours, though less than my desires, have filed, that is, 
have one (an equal) pace with my abilities. 
t In the greatest companies. J i. c. Combined. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 151 

His fretted fortunes give him hope, and fear, 

Of what he has, and has not. 30 — iv. 10. 

Ill 

I . . . . 

Am right glad to catch this good occasion 

Most thoroughly to be winnow'd, where my chaff 

And corn shall fly asunder ; for, I know, 

There's none stands under more calumnious tongues, 

Than I myself. 25 — v. ] . 

112 

This the noble nature 
Whom passion could not shake 1 whose solid virtue, 
The shot of accident, nor dart of chance, 
Could neither graze nor pierce 1 37 — iv. 1. 

113 

He is a man, setting his fate aside,* 

Of comely virtues : 

Nor did he soil the fact with cowardice 

(An honour in him, which buys out his fault); 

But, with a noble fury, and fair spirit, 

Seeing his reputation touch'd to death, 

He did oppose his foe : 

And with such sober and unnoted passiontf 

He did behavej his anger, ere 'twas spen, 

As if he had but proved an argument. 27 — iii. 5. 

114 

The dearest friend, the kindest man, 
The best condition'd and unwearied spirit 
In doing courtesies. 9 — iii. 2. 

115 

For his bounty, 
There was no winter in't ; an autumn 'twas, 
That grew the more by reaping. 30 — v. 2. 

* i. e. Putting this action of his, which was predetermined by fate> 
out of the question. 

t i. e. Passion so subdued, that no spectator could note its opera- 
tion. | Manage, govern. 



152 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

116 

He covets less, 
Than misery* itself would give ; rewards 
His deeds with doing them : and is content 
To spend the time, to end it. 28 — ii. 2. 

117 

I would dissemble with my nature, where 

My fortunes, and my friends, at stake, required 

I should do so in honour. 28 — iii. 2. 

118 

His life was gentle ; and the elements 

So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up, 

And say to all the world, This was a man ! 

29— v. 5. 
119 

Spare in diet ; 
Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger ; 
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood ; 
Garnish'd and deck'd in modest compliment ;f 
Not working with the eye, without the ear,}: 
And, but in purged judgment, trusting neither. 

20— ii. 2. 
120 

Where I could not be honest, 
I never yet was valiant. 34 — v. 1. 

121 

Thou art a summer bird, 
Which ever in the haunch of winter sings 
The lifting-up of day. 19 — iv. 4. 

122 

I know you all, and will awhile uphold 
The unyoked humour of your idleness : 
Yet herein will I imitate the sun ; 
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds 
To smother up his beauty from the world, 

* Avarice. t Accomplishment. 

J i. e. Did not trust the air or look of any man, -till he had tried 
him by inquiry and conversation. 



KOBLE CHARACTERS. 153 

That, when he please again to be himself, 
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, 
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists 
Of vapours, that did seem to strangle him. 

t* H* n> Hi t» 5|C 

So when this loose behaviour I throw off, 
And pay the debt I never promised, 
By how much better than my word I am, 
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes ;* 
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground, 
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, 
Shall show more goodly, and attract more eyes, 
Than that which hath no foil to set it off. 

18 — i. 2. 

% Hi • * % * * 

Presume not that I am the thing I was : 

For heaven doth know, so shall the world perceive, 

That I have turn'd away my former self; 

So will I those that kept me company. 19 — v. 5. 

123 

O, that this good blossom could be kept from cankers ! 

19— ii. 2. 
124 

I have no tongue but one. 5 — ii. 4. 

125 

There is a fair behaviour in thee, 
And though that nature with a beauteous wall 
Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee 
I will believe thou hast a mind that suits 
With this thy fair and outward character. 4 — i. 2. 

126 

He was skilful enough to have lived still, if know- 
ledge could be set up against mortality. 11 — i. 1. 

127 

Weigh him well, 
And that, which looks like pride, is courtesy. 

26— iv. 5. 

* Expectations. 



154 DELINEATIONS OP CHARACTER. 

128 

He's opposite to humanity. He outgoes 

The very heart of kindness. 27 — i. 1. 

129 

No villanous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart ; 
Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given. 27 — ii. 2. 

130 

He sits 'mongst men, like a descended god : 

He hath a kind of honour sets him off, 

More than a mortal seeming. 31 — i. 7. 

131 

Let them accuse me by invention, I 

Will answer in mine honour. 28 — iii. 2. 

132 

He is the card* or calendar of gentry, for you shall 
find in him the continent! of what part a gentleman 
would see. 36 — v. 2. 

133 

And, but he's something stain'd 
With grief, that's beauty's canker, thou might'st call 

him 
A goodly person. 1 — i. 2. 

134 
He is as full of valour, as of kindness ; 
Princely in both. 20 — iv. 3. 

135 

Dear lad, believe it ; 
For they shall yet belie thy happy years, 
That say, thou art a man : Diana's lip 
Is not more smooth and rubious ; thy small pipe 
Is as the maiden's organ, shrill, and sound, 
And all is semblative a woman's part. 4 — i. 4. 

136 

He hath a heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue 

* Compass or chart. t The country and pattern for imitation. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 155 

is the clapper ; for what his heart thinks, his tongue 
speaks. 6 — iii. 2. 

137 

I cannot flatter ; I defy 
The tongues of soothers. 18 — iii. 4. 

# 136 

He hath a stern look, but a gentle heart. 16 — iv. 1. 

139 
And here have I the daintiness of ear, 
To check time broke in a disorder'd string ; 
But, for the concord of my state and time, 
Had not an ear to hear my true time broke. 
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me. 

17— v. 5. 

140 
That churchman bears a bounteous mind indeed, 
A hand as fruitful as the land that feeds us ; 
His dews fall every where. 25 — i. 3. 

141 
I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love. 

30— iii. 2. 
142 

One, that, above all other strifes, contended es- 
pecially to know himself. Rather rejoicing to see 
another merry, than merry at any thing which pro- 
fessed to make him rejoice. 5- — iii. 2. 

143 

After your death you were better have a bad epi- 
taph, than ill report while you live. 36 — ii. 2. 

144 

You know the very road into his kindness, 
And cannot lose your way. 28 — v. 1. 

145 

Modest wisdom plucks me, 
From over-credulous haste.* 15 — iv. 3. 

* Over-hasty credulity. 



156 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

146 

May he live 
Longer than I have time to tell his years. 
Ever beloved, and loving, may his rule be ! 
And, when old time shall lead him to his end, 
Goodness and he fill up one monument ! 25 — ii. 1. 

147 

On whose bright crest Fame with her loudest O yes 
Cries, This is he. 26 — iv. 5. 

148 

I throw mine eyes to Heaven, 
Scorning whate'er you can afflict me with. 23 — i. 4. 

149 

A merrier man, 
Within the limit of becoming mirth, 
I never spent an hour's talk withal : 
His eye begets occasion for his wit ; 
For every object that the one doth catch, 
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest ; 
Which his fair tongue (conceit's expositor) 
Delivers in such apt and gracious words, 
That aged years play truant at his tales, 
And younger hearings are quite ravished ; 
So sweet and voluble is his discourse. 8 — ii. I. 

150 

There appears much joy in him : even so much, 
that joy could not show itself modest enough without 
a badge of bitterness. A kind overflow of kindness : 
There are no faces truer than those that are so 
washed. 6 — i. 1. 

151 

Not sleeping, to engross his idle body, 

But praying to enrich his watchful soul. 24 — iii. 7. 

152 

He is of a noble strain, of approved valour, and 
confirmed honesty. 6 — i. 1. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 157 

153 

He did not look far 
Into the service of the time, and was 
Discipled of the bravest. 11 — i. 2. 

154 

Thou map of honour, thou most beauteous inn, 
Why should hard-favour'd grief be lodged in thee] 

17— v. 1. 
155 

Dexterity so obeying appetite, 

That what he will, he does ; and does so much, 

That proof is call'd impossibility. 26 — v. 5. 

156 

He hath a daily beauty in his life. 37 — v. 1. 

157 

Do not tempt my misery, 
Lest that it make me so unsound a man, 
As to upbraid you with those kindnesses 
That I have done for you. 4 — iii. 4. 

158 

No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours, 
Or gild again the noble troops, that waited 
Upon my smiles. 25 — iii. 2. 

159 

When I know that boasting is an honour, 
I shall promulgate. 37 — i. 2. 

160 

Faster than his tongue 
Did make offence, his eye did heal it up. 10 — iii. 5. 

161 

My mother, 
Who has a charter to extol her blood, 
When she does praise me, grieves me. 28 — i. 9. 

162 

In the managing of quarrels, you may see he is 

14 



158 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

wise ; for either he avoids them with great discretion, 
or undertakes them with the most Christian-like fear. 

6— ii. 3. 
163 

O good old man ; how well in thee appears 
The constant service of the antique world, 
When service sweat for duty, not for meed ! 
Thou art not for the fashion of these times, 
Where none will sweat, but for promotion ; 
And having that, do choke their service up 
Even with the having :* it is not so with thee. 

10— ii. 3. 
164 

I cannot cog, and say, thou art this and that, like a 
many of these lisping hawthorn buds, that come like 
women in men's apparel, and smell like Buckler's- 
buryf in simple-time. 3 — iii. 3. 

165 

Look how we can, or sad, or merrily, 

Interpretation will misquote our looks. 18 — v. 2. 

166 

My blood begins my safer guides to rule ; 
And passion, having ray best judgment collied, 
Assays to lead the way. 37 — ii. 3. 

167 

If his own life answer the straitness of his pro- 
ceeding, it shall become him well : wherein, if he 
chance to fail, he hath sentenced himself. 

5— iii. 2. 

168 

Thus stand my state, 
Like to a ship, that, having 'scaped a tempest, 
Is straightway calm'd, and boarded with a pirate. 

22— iv. 9. 



* Even with the promotion gained by service, is service extin- 
guished. 
+ Formerly chiefly inhabited by druggists. 



NOBLE CHARACTERS. 159 

169 

I am disgraced, impeach'd and baffled here ; 
Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear. 

17— i. 1. 
170 

I cannot hide what I am : I must be sad, when I 
have cause, and smile at no man's jests ; eat when I 
have stomach, and wait for no man's leisure ; sleep 
when I am drowsy, and tend to no man's business ; 
laugh, when I am merry, and claw no man in his 
humour. 4 — i. 3. 

171 

Too full of the milk of human kindness. 15 — i. 5. 

172 

Mine honesty shall be my dower. 23 — iii. 2. 

173 

Faster than spring-time showers, comes thought on 

thought ; 
And not a thought, but thinks on dignity. 

22— iii. 1. 
174 

There is between my will and all offences 
A guard of patience. 26 — v. 2. 

175 

I'll play the orator, 
As if the golden fee, for which I plead, 
Were for myself. 24 — iii. 5. 

176 

I have sounded the very base string of humility. 

18— ii. 4. 
177 

In his commendations I am fed ; 
It is a banquet to me. 15 — i. 4. 

178 
****** 

His real habitude gave life and grace 
To appertainings and to ornament, 



160 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

Accomplish'd in himself, not in his case : 

All aids themselves made fairer by their place ; 

Came for additions, yet their purposed trim 

Pieced not his grace, but were all graced by him. 

So on the tip of his subduing tongue 

All kind of arguments, and question deep, 

All replication prompt, and reason strong, 

For his advantage still did wake and sleep : 

To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep, 

He had the dialect and different skill, 

Catching all passions in his craft of will ; 

That he did in the general bosom reign 

Of young, of old ; and sexes both enchanted. 



Poems. 



INFERIOR AND TRIFLING CHARACTERS. 

179 

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time : 

Some, that will evermore peep through their eyes, 

And laugh, like parrots, at a bag-piper ; 

And other of such vinegar aspect, 

That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile, 

Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable. 

9— i. 1 
180 

There are a sort of men, whose visages 
Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond ; 
And do a wilful stillness* entertain, 
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion 
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit ; 
As who should say, lam Sir Oracle, 
And, when I ope my lips, let no dog bark ! 

* Obstinate silence. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 161 

. I do know of these, 
That therefore only are reputed wise, 
For saying nothing ; who, I am very sure, 
If they should speak, would almost damn those ears, 
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers, fools. 

9— i. 1. 
181 

This fellow's wise enough to play the fool; 

And, to do that well, craves a kind of wit : 

He must observe their mood on whom he jests, 

The quality of persons, and the time ; 

And, like the haggard,* check at every feather 

That comes before his eye. This is a practice, 

As full of labour as a wise man's art ; 

For folly, that he wisely shows, is fit ; 

But wise men, folly fallen,f quite taint their wit. 

4 — iii. 1. 
182 

I do know him valiant, 
And, touch'd with choler, hot as gunpowder, 
And quickly will return an injury. 20 — iv. 7. 

183 

With a proud heart he wore 
His humble weeds. 28 — ii. 3. 

184 

This milky gentleness, and course of yours, 
Though I condemn it not, yet, under pardon, 
You are much more attask'dj for want of wisdom, 
Than praised for harmful mildness. 34 — i. 4. 

185 

As you are old and reverend, you should be wise. 

34— i. 4. 
186 
You do unbend your noble strength, to think 
So brainsickly of things. 15 — ii. 2. 

187 
His humour is lofty, his discourse peremptory, his 

* A hawk not well trained, f «• e - Wise men fallen into folly. 
1 Liable to reprehension. 

14* 



162 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

tongue filed, his eye ambitious, his gait majestical, 
and his general behaviour vain, ridiculous, and thra- 
sonical.* 8 — v. 1. 

188 

Being scarce made up, 
I mean, to man, he had not apprehension 
Of roaring terrors ; for the effectf of judgment 
Is oft the cause of fear. 31 — iv. 2. 

189 

Your capacity 
Is of that nature, that to your huge store 
Wise things seem foolish, and rich things but poor. 

8— v. 2. 

190 

A man in all the world's new fashion planted, 
That hath a mint of phrases in his brain : 

One, whom the music of his own vain tongue 
Doth ravish, like enchanting harmony. 

8— i. 1. 

191 

He has every thing that an honest man should not 
have ; what an honest man should have, he has 
nothing. 11 — iv. 3. 

192 

O, he's as tedious * 

As is a tired horse, a railing wife ; 
Worse than a smoky house : — I had rather live 
With cheese and garlic, in a windmill, far, 
Than feed on cates,| and have him talk to me, 
In any summer-house in Christendom. 18 — iii. 1. 

193 

I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is 
emulation ; nor the musician's, which is fantastical ; 
nor the courtier's, which is proud ; nor the soldier's, 
which is ambitious ; nor the lawyer's, which is po- 

* Boastful. f Effect for defect. J Dainties. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 163 

litic ; nor the lady's, which is nice ;* nor the lover's, 
which is all these : but it is a melancholy of mine 
own, compounded of many simples, extracted from 
many objects ; and, indeed, the sundry contemplation 
of my travels, in which my often rumination wraps 
me, is a most humorous sadness. 10 — iv. 1. 

194 

The body of your discourse is sometimes guardedf 
with fragments, and the guards are but slightly basted 
on neither : ere you flout old ends any farther, ex- 
amine your conscience.^ 6 — i. 1. 

195 

I know them, yea, 
And what they weigh even to the utmost scruple : 
Scambling, out-facing, fashion-mong'ring boys, 
That lie, and cog, and flout, deprave and slander, 
Go anticly, and show outward hideousness, 
And speak off half a dozen dangerous words, 
How they might hurt their enemies, if they durst, 
And this is all. 6 — v. 1. 

196 

He is every man in no man : if a throstle sing, he 
falls straight a capering : he will fence with his own 
shadow. 9 — i. 2. 

197 

He'll but break a comparison or two on me ; which, 
peradventure, not marked, or not laughed at, strikes 
him into melancholy. 6 — ii. 1. 

198 

O, that's a brave man ! he writes brave verses, 
speaks brave words, swears brave oaths, and breaks 
them bravely, quite traverse, athwart the heart of his 
lover ;§ as a puny tilter, that spurs his horse but on 

* Trifling. t Trimmed. 

X " Flout," &c. Before you endeavour to distinguish yourself any 
more by antiquated allusions, examine whether you can fairly 
claim for your own .- or, Examine, if your sarcasms touch yourself. 

§ Mistress. 



164 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

one side, breaks his staff like a noble goose : but all's 
brave, that youth mounts, and folly guides. 

10— iii. 4. 
199 

He will steal himself into a man's favour, and, for 
a week, escape a great deal of discoveries ; but when 
you find him out, you have him ever after. 

11— iii. 6. 
200 

He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer 
than the staple of his argument. I abhor such fana- 
tical fantasms, such insociable and point-device* com- 
panions, such rackers of orthography. 8 — v. 1. 

201 
I saw him put down the other day with an ordinary 
fool, that has no more brain than a stone. Unless 
you laugh and minister occasion to him, he is gagged. 

4— i. 5. 
202 

O dear discretion, how his words are suited ! 
The fool hath planted in his memory 
An army of good words : and I do know 
A many fools, that stand in better place, 
Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word 
Defy the matter. 9 — iii. 5. 

203 

How tartly that gentleman looks ! I never can see 
him, but I am heart-burned an hour after. 6 — ii. 1. 

204 
To say nothing-, to do nothing, to know nothing, 
and to have nothing, is to be a great part of your 
title ; which is within a very little of nothing. 

11— ii. 4. 
205 

He has been yonder i' the sun, practising behaviour 
to his own shadow, this half hour. 4 — ii. 5. 

* Fiuical exactness. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 165 

206 
I know him a notorious liar, 
Think him a great way fool, solely a coward ; 
Yet these fix'd evils sit so fit in him, 
That they take place when virtue's steely bones 
Look bleak in the cold wind. 11 — i. 1. 

207 

Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit ; 

By and by it will strike. 1 — ii. 1. 

208 

You are made 
Rather to wonder at the things you hear, 
Than to work any. 31 — v. 3. 

209 

He excels his brother for a coward, yet his brother 
is reputed one of the best that is : in a retreat, he out- 
runs any lackey ; marry, in coming on he has the cramp. 

11— iv. 3. 

210 

A very little thief of occasion will rob you of a great 
deal of patience. 28 — ii. 1. 

211 

Who is his companion now 1 He hath every month 
a new sworn brother. 6 — i. 1. 

212 
This is the flower that smiles on every one, 
To show his teeth as white as whale's bone.* 

8— v. 2. 

213 
I will not change my horse with any that treads 
but on four pasterns. Ca, ha ! He bounds from the 
earth, as if his entrails were hairs : le cheval volant, 
the Pegasus, qui a les narines de feu ! When I be- 
stride him, I soar, I am a hawk ; he trots the air ; the 
earth sings, when he touches it; the basest horn of his 
hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes. 

* The tooth of the horse -whale. 



166 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

He's of the colour of the nutmeg. 

And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for 
Perseus : he is pure air and fire ; and the dull ele- 
ments of earth and water never appear in him, but 
only in patient stillness, while his rider mounts him ; 
he is, indeed, a horse : and all other jades you may 
call — beasts. It is the prince of palfreys ; his neigh 
is like the bidding of a monarch, and his countenance 
enforces homage. Nay, the man hath no wit, that 
cannot, from the rising of the lark, to the lodging of 
the lamb, vary deserved praise on my palfrey : it is a 
theme as fluent as the sea ; turn the sands into elo- 
quent tongues, and my horse is argument for them 
all: 'tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and 
for a sovereign's sovereign to ride on ; and for the 
world (familiar to us, and unknown,) to lay apart 
their particular functions, and wonder at him. I once 
writ a sonnet in his praise, and began thus : Wonder 
of nature ! 20 — iii. 7. 

214 

They begin to smoke me ; and disgraces have of 
late knocked too often at my door. I find, my tongue 
is too fool-hardy ; but my heart hath the fear of Mars 
before it, and of his creatures, not daring the reports 
of my tongue. 11 — iv. 1. 

215 

I have trod a measure ;* I have flattered a lady ; I 
have been politic with my friend, smooth with mine 
enemy ; I have undone three tailors ; I have had four 
quarrels, and like to have fought one. 10 — v. 4. 

216 

This same starved justice hath done nothing but 
prate to me of the wildness of his youth, and the feats 
he hath done ; and every third word a lie, duer paid 
to the hearer than the Turk's triibute. 19 — iii. 2. 

217 

Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to me 

Thou would' st appear most ugly. 30 — ii. 5. 

* A stately solemn dance. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 167 

218 

Thou picture of what thou seemest, and idol of idiot- 
worshippers. 26 — v. 1. 

219 
He hath a person, and a smooth dispose, 
To be suspected ; framed to make women false. 

37— i. 3. 

220 

Here's a stay, 
That shakes the rotten carcase of old death 
Out of his rags ! Here's a large mouth, indeed, 
That spits forth death, and mountains, rocks, and seas ; 
Talks as familiarly of roaring lions, 
As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs ! 
What cannoneer begot this lusty blood 1 
He speaks plain cannon, fire, and smoke, and bounce ; 
He gives the bastinado with his tongue ; 
Our ears are cudgell'd. 16 — ii. 2. 

221 

If he were opened, and you find so much blood in 
his liver as will clog the foot of a flea, I'll eat the rest 
of the anatomy. 4 — Hi. 2. 

222 
They have been at a great feast of languages, and 
stolen the scraps. They have lived long in the alms- 
basket of words ! 8 — v. 1. 

223 

You might have truss'd him, and all his apparel, 

into an eel-skin ; the case of a treble hautboy was a 

mansion for him; a court; and now has he land and 

beeves. 19 — iii- 2. 

224 

Why, 'tis a gull, a fool,' a rogue ; that now and 
then goes to the wars, to grace himself, at his return 
into London, under the form of a soldier. And such 
fellows are perfect in great commander's names ; and 
they will learn you by rote, where services were 
done ; — at such and such a sconce,* at such a breach, 

* An intid'hchment hastily thrown up. 

41 



188 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

at such a convoy ; who came off bravely, who was 
shot, who disgraced, what terms the enemy stood on ; 
and this they con perfectly in the phrase of war, which 
they trick up with new-tuned oaths : And what a 
beard of the general's cut, and a horrid suit of the 
camp, will do among foaming bottles, and ale-washed 
wits, is wonderful to be thought on! but you must 
learn to know such slanders of the age, or else you 
may be marvellous mistook. 20 — iii. 6. 

225 

He hath much land, and fertile ; let a beast be lord 
of beasts, and his crib shall stand at the king's mess: 
'Tis a chough ;* but, as I say, spacious in the possession 
of dirt. 36— v. 2. 

226 

My credit now stands on such slippery ground, 
That one of two bad ways you must conceit me, 
Either a coward or a flatterer. 29 — iii. 1. 

227 

Will you have me, lady 1 ? 
No, my lord, unless I might have another for working- 
days; your grace is too costly to wear every day. 

6— ii. 1. 
228 

My master is deaf. I am sure he is, to the hearing 
of any thing good. 19 — i. 2. 

229 

O thou great thunder-darter of Olympus, forget 
that thou art Jove, the king of gods : and, Mercury, 
lose all the serpentine craft of thy Caduceus ;f if ye 
take not that little little less-than-little wit from them 
that they have ! which short-armed ignorance itself 
knows is so abundant scarce, it will not in circum- 
vention deliver a fly from a spider, without drawing 
their massy irons, J and cutting the web. 26 — ii. 3. 

* A bird like a jackdaw. 

t The wand of Mercury, which is wreathed with serpents. 
% i. e. Without drawing their swords to cut their webs : they use 
no means but those of violence. ^ 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 169 

230 

See you those clothes ] say, you see them not, and 
think me still no gentleman born : you were best say, 
these robes are not gentleman born. Give me the 
lie ; do ; and try whether I am not now a gentleman 
born. Ay, and have been so any time these four 
hours. 13 — v. 2. 

231 

I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense,* 
And he grows angry. 37 — v. 1. 

232 

Here comes Monsieur Le Beau, with his mouth full 
of news, which he will put on us, as pigeons feed their 
young. 10 — i. 2. 

233 

He was wont to speak plain, and to the purpose, 
like an honest man, and a soldier ; and now is he 
turned orthographer ; his words are a very fantastical 
banquet, just so many strange dishes. 6 — ii. 3. 

234 

Why, what's the matter, 
That you have such a February face, 
So full of frost, of storm, and cloudiness'? 6 — v. 4. 

235 

I have ere now, sir, been better known to you, when 
T have held familiarity with fresher clothes ; but I am 
now, sir, muddied in fortune's moat, and smell some- 
what strong of her strong displeasure. 11 — v. 2. 

236 

I do remember him, like a man made after a supper 
of a cheese-paring : when he was naked, he was, for 
all the world, like a forked ra'dish, with a head fantas- 
tically carved upon it with a knife : he was so forlorn, 
that his dimensions to any thick sight were invisible : 
he was the very genius of famine. 19 — iii. 2. 

* To the quick. 

* 15 



170 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

237 
It is the disease of not listening, the malady of not 
marking 1 , that I am troubled withal. 19 — i. 2. 

238 
Either thou art most ignorant by age, 
Or thou wert born a fool. 13 — ii. 1. 

239 

Thy bones are hollow : impiety has made a feast of 
thee. 5 — i. 2. 

240 
A rude despiser of good manners, 
That in civility thou seem'st so empty, 10 — ii. 7. 

241 

O, he is the courageous captain of compliments. 
He fights as you sing prick-song,* keeps time, dis- 
tance, and proportion ; rests me his minim rest, one, 
two y and the third in your bosom : the very butcher 
of a silk button, a duellist, a duellist ; a gentleman 
of the very first house, — of the first and second cause :f 
Ah, the immortal passado! the punto reverso ! the 
hay !J 35— ii. 4, 

242 

Men of all sorts take a pride to gird$ at me : the 
brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able 
to vent any thing, that tends to laughter, more than 
I invent, or is invented on me : I am not only witty 
in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men. 

19— i. 2. 
243 
He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under 
presentation of that, he shoots his wit, 10 — v. 4, 

244 

He is knight, dubbed with unbacked rapier, and on 
carpet consideration. 4 — iii. 4. 

* By notes pFicked down. 

t A gentleman of the first rank of the first eminence among duel- 
lists, and will tell you of the first cause and the second cause for 
which a man is to fight 

I Terms of the fencing school. || Gibe. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 171 

245 

O, you are sick of self-love, and taste with a distem- 
pered appetite. 4 — i. 5. 

246 

He is a very valiant trencher-man, he hath an ex- 
cellent stomach. 6 — i. 1. 

247 

A barren-spirited fellow ; one that feeds 

On objects, arts, and imitations ; 

Which, out of use, and staled by other men, 

Begin his fashion. 29 — iv. 1. 

248 

I cannot tell for which of his virtues it was, but he 
was certainly whipped out of the court. 13 — iv. 2. 

249 

What cracker is this same, that deafs our ears 
With this abundance of superfluous breath] 

16— ii. 1. 
250 

Do you set down your name in the scroll of youth, 
that are written down old with all the characters of 
age ] Have you not a moist eye ] a dry hand 1 a 
yellow cheek"? a white beard 1 a decreasing leg] an 
increasing belly] Is not your voice broken] your 
wind short] your chin double ] your wit single 1* and 
every part about you blasted with antiquity ]f and 
will you yet call yourself young ] Fye, fye, fye. 

19— i. 2. 
251 

You are rather point-device| in your accoutrements ; 
as loving yourself, than seeming the lover of any 
other. 10 — iii. 2. 

252 

Ungracious wretch, 
Fit for the mountains, and the barbarous caves, 
Where manners ne'er were preach'd ! 4 — iv. 1. 

* Small. t Old age. t Over-exact, 



172 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

253 

He hears merry tales, and smiles not: I fear, he 
will prove the weeping philosopher when he grows 
old, being so full of unmannerly sadness in his youth. 

9— i. 2. 
254 

Thou thread, thou thimble, 

Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail, 
Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter cricket thou : — 
Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant. 

12— iv. 3. 
255 

I did think, by the excellent constitution of thy 
leg, it was formed under the star of a galliard. 

4— i. 3. 
256 

For a quart d'ecu he will sell the fee-simple of his 
salvation, the inheritance of it ; and cut the entail 
from all remainders, and a perpetual succession for 
it perpetually. 11 — iv. 3. 

257 
He will lie with such volubility, that you would 
think truth were a fool ; drunkenness is his best virtue ; 
for he will be swine drunk ; and in his sleep he does 
little barm, save to his bed-clothes about him ; but 
they know his conditions, and lay him in straw. 

11— iv. 3. 
258 

He is of a free and open nature, 
That thinks men honest, that but seem to be so ; 
And will as tenderly be led by th' nose, 
As asses are. 37 — i. 3. 

259 

He his special nothing ever prologues. 11 — ii. 1. 

260 
Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool 
Art thou, to break into this woman's mood ;* 
Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own 1 18 — i. 3. 

* Mind, humour. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 173 

261 

From the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, 
he is all mirth ; he hath twice or thrice cut Cupid's 
bow-string, and the little hangman dare not shoot at 
him. 6 — iii. 2. 

262 

Thou art too wild, too rude, and bold of voice ; — 

Parts that become thee happily enough, 

And in such eyes as ours appear not faults ; 

But where thou art not known, why, there they show 

Something too liberal ;— pray thee, take pain 

To allay with some cold drops of modesty 

Thy skipping spirit. , 9 — ii. 2. 

263 

It is a wonderful thing, to see the semblable cohe- 
rence of his men's spirits and his: (They, by observing 
him, do hear themselves like foolish justices ; he, by 
conversing with them, is turned into a justice-like 
serving-man :) their spirits are so married in conjunc- 
tion with the participation of society, that they flock 
together in consent, like so many wild-geese. 

19— v. 1. 
264 

He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat, it 
ever changes with the next block.* 6 — i. 1. 

265 

If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me ; 
I had it from my father. - 25 — i. 4. 

266 

Give him gold enough, and marry him to a puppet, 
or an aglet-baby ; or an old trot with ne'er a tooth in 
her head, though she have as many diseases as two- 
and-fifty horses : why, nothing comes amiss, so money 
comes withal. 12 — i. 2. 

267 

My good window of lattice, fare thee well ; thy 
casement I need not open, for I look through thee. 

11— ii. 3. 

* Mould for a hat. 

15* 



174 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

268 
He borrows his wit from your ladyship's looks, 
and spends what he borrows, kindly in your com- 
pany. 2 — ii. 4. 

269 

Your words and performances are no kin together. 

37— iv. 2. 
270 

I'll tell thee what, a college of wit-crackers can- 
not flout me out of my humour : Dost thou think, 
I care for a satire, or an epigram 1 No ; if a man 
will be beaten with brains, he shall wear nothing 
handsome about him: In brief, since I do purpose 
to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that 
the world can say against it ; and therefore never 
flout at me for what I have said against it ; for man is 
a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion. 6 — v. 4. 

271 

A milk-sop, one that never in his life 

Felt so much cold as over-shoes in snow 1 24 — v. 3. 

272 
Do but see his vice ; 
'Tis to his virtue a just equinox, 
The one as long as the other. 37 — ii. 3. 

273 
You are as a candle, the better part burnt out. 

19— i. 2. 

274 

He does smile his face into more lines, than are in 
the new map, with the augmentation of the Indies.* 

4—iii. 2. 
275 

I can get no remedy against this consumption of the 
purse : borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, but 
the disease is incurable. 19 — i. 2. 



* A clear allusion to a map engraved for Linschoten's Voyages, 
an English translation of which was published in 1598. This map 
is multilineal in the extreme, and is the first in which the Eastern 
Islands are included. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 175 

276 

They'll take suggestion* as a cat laps milk ; 

They'll tell the clock to any business that 

We say befits the hour. 1 — ii. 1. 

277 

He's not yet thorough warm : forcef him with praises; 
Pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry. 26 — ii. 3. 

278 

Thou idle immaterial skein of sleivej silk, thou 
green sarcenet flap for a sore eye, thou tassel of a 
prodigal's purse, thou ! Ah, how the poor world is 
pestered with such water-flies; diminutives of nature ! 

26— v. 1. 
279 

The melancholy god protect thee ; and the tailor 
make thy doublet of changeable taffata, for thy mind 
is a very opal !§ — I would have men of such constancy 
put to sea, that their business might be every thing, 
and their intent every where ;|| for that's it, that 
always makes a good voyage of nothing. - 4 — ii. 4. 

280 

I think he is not a pick-purse, nor a horse-stealer ; 
but for his verity in love, I do think him as concave as 
a covered goblet,^ or a worm-eaten nut. 10 — iii. 4. 

281 

He seems to be the more noble in being fantastical ; 
a great man, I'll warrant; I know, by the picking 
on's teeth. 13— i v. 3. 

282 

That's a shealed peascod.** 34 — i. 4. 

283 

Thou half-penny purse of wit, thou pigeon-egg of 
discretion. 8 — v. 1. 

* Any hint. t Stuff. J Coarse, unwrought. 

§ A precious stone of all colours. 

|| Intent every where, i. e. inconstant. IT An empty goblet. 
** A mere husk, which contains nothing. 



176 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

284 

He would not swear ; praised women's modesty : 
and gave such orderly and well-behaved reproof to 
all uncomeliness, that I would have sworn his dispo- 
sition would have gone to the truth of his words : 
but they do no more adhere and keep place together 
than the hundredth Psalm to the tune of Green 
Sleeves. 3 — ii. 1. 

285 

You are the hare of whom the proverb goes, 
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard. 

16— ii. 1. 
286 

A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles. 13 — iv. 2. 

287 

You strike like the blind man ; 'twas the boy that 
stole your meat, and you'll beat the post. 6 — ii. 1. 

288 

He's quoted* for a most perfidious slave, 

With all the spots o' the world tax'd and debosh'd ;f 

Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth. 11 — v. 3. 

289 

He speaks an infinite deal of nothing. His rea- 
sons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of 
chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them ; and 
when you have them, they are not worth the search. 

9— i. 1. 
290 

Was this taken 
By any understanding pate but thine 1 
For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in 
More than the common blocks. 13 — i. 2. 

291 
How oddly he is suited ! I think, he bought his 
doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet 
in Germany, and his behaviour every where. 

9— i. 2. 

* Noted. f Debauched. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 177 

292 

In his brain, — 
Which is as dry as. the remainder biscuit 
After a voyage, — he hath strange places cramm'd 
With observation, the which he vents 
In mangled forms. 10 — ii. 7. 

293 

'Tis my familiar sin 
With maids to seem the lapwing,* and to jest, 
Tongue far from heart. 5 — i. 5. 

294 

A time pleaser ; and affectionedf ass, that cons state 
without book, and utters it by great swarths :| the best 
persuaded of himself, so crammed, as he thinks, with 
excellencies, that it is his ground of faith, that all, that 
look on him, love him. 4 — ii. 3. 

295 

He's a most notable coward, an infinite and endless 
liar, an hourly promise-breaker, the owner of no one 
good quality. 11 — iii. 6. 

296 

He will look upon his boot, and sing; mend the 
ruff, ^ and sing ; ask questions, and sing ; pick his 
teeth, and sing : I know a man that had this trick of 
melancholy, sold a goodly manor for a song. 

11— iii. 2. 
297 

He doth nothing but talk of his horse ; and he makes 
it a great appropriation to his own good parts, that he 
can shoe him himself. 9 — i. 2* 

298 

I think, thy horse will sooner con an oration, than 
thou learn a prayer without a book. 26 — ii. 1. 

299 

Why, is not this a lamentable thing, that we should 

* The farther she is from her nest, where her heart is with her 
young ones, she is the louder, or perhaps all tongue, 
t Affected. J The row of grass left by a mower. 

§ The folding at the top of the boot. 



178 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these fashion- 
mongers, these pardonnez-moy's, who stand so much 
on the new form, that they cannot sit at ease on the 
old bench ] O, their bons, their bons !* 35— ii. 4. 

300 

You are a vagabond, and no true traveller : you are 
more saucy with lords, and honourable personages, 
than the heraldry of your birth and virtues gives you 
commission. 11 — ii. 3. 

301 

It is the cowish terror of his spirit, 

That dares not undertake : he'll not feel wrongs, 

Which tie him to an answer. 34 — iv. 2. 

302 

That great baby, you see there, is not yet out of his 
swaddling-clouta. 36 — ii. 2. 

303 

When he speaks, 
'Tis like a chime a-mending ; with terms unsquared,f 
Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropp'd, 
Would seem hyperboles. 26 — i. 3. 

304 

I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty 
a heart ; but the saying is true, — The empty vessel 
makes the greatest sound. 20 — iv. 4. 

305 

I know you can do very little alone ; for your helps 
are many ; or else your actions would grow wondrous 
single : your abilities are too infant-like, for doing 
much alone. 28 — ii. 1. 

306 

Young gentleman, your spirits are too bold for your 
years. 10 — i. 2. 

307 
Why, he stalks up and down like a peacock, a 
* In ridicule of Frenchified coxcombs. tUnadapted. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 179 

stride and a stand ; ruminates like an hostess, that 
hath no arithmetic but her brain to set down her 
reckoning: bites his lip with a politic regard,* as 
who should say — there were wit in his head, an 
'twould out ; and so there is ; but it lies as coldly in 
him as fire in a flint, which will not show without 
knocking. 26— iii. 3. 

My invention 
Comes from my pate, as birdlime does from frize, 
It plucks out brains and all. 37 — ii. I. 

309 

Thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair 
more, or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast. 
Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, 
having no other reason but because thou hast hazel 
eyes : What eye, but such an eye,, would spy out such 
a quarrel 1 Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egg 
is full of meat. 35 — iii. ll 

310 

This lapwingf runs away with the shell on his head. 
He did comply J with his dug, before he suck'd it. 
Thus has he (and many more of the same breed, that, 
I know, the drossy^ age dotes on,) only got the tune 
of the time, and outward habit of encounter ; a kind- 
of yesty|| collection, which carries them through and 
through the most fondlF and winnowed opinions ; and 
do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out. 

36— v. 2. 

311 

He waxes desperate with imagination. 36 — i. 4. 

312 

A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen, 

As you are toss'd with. 18 — ii. 3. 

* A sly look. 

t A bird which runs about as soon as it is hatched. 

j Compliment. § Worthless. || Frothy. 

1\ For fond, read fanned. 



180 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

313 

One, 
Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,* 
Made such a sinner of his memory, 
To credit his own He. 1 — i. 2. 

314 

One, bred of alms, and foster'd with cold dishes. 

31— ii. 3. 
315 

If I could have remembered a gilt counterfeit, thou 
wouldest not have slipped out of my contemplation. 

26— ii. 3. 
316 

If he, compact of jars,f grow musical, 
We shall have shortly discord in the spheres. 

10— ii. 7. 
317 

Thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides, and left no- 
thing in the middle. 34 — i. 4. 

318 
Ready in gibes, quick-answer'd, saucy, and 
As quarrellous as the weasel. 31 — iii. 4. 

319 

Thou core of envy ! 
Thou crusty batch of nature ! 26 — v. 1. 

320 

You have an exchequer of words, and, I think, no 
other treasure to give your followers ; for it appears 
by their bare liveries, that they live by your bare 
words. 2 — ii. 4. 

321 

I will no more trust him when he leers, than I will 
a serpent when he hisses: he will spend his mouth, 
and promise, like Brabler the hound : but when he 
performs, astronomers foretell it ; it is prodigious,! 
there will come some change ; the sun borrows of the 
moon, when he keeps his word. 26 — v. 1. 

* " Of it" should be oft. f Made up of discord. 

| Portentous, ominous. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 181 

322 

A gentleman, that loves to hear himself talk ; and 
will speak more in a minute, than he will stand to in 
a month. 35 — ii. 4. 

323 

Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough 
for a boy ; as a squash is before 'tis a peascod, or a 
codling* when 'tis almost an apple : 'tis with him e'en 
standing water, between boy and man. He is very 
well-favoured, and he speaks very shrewishly ; one 
would think, his mother's milk were scarce out of 
him. 4 — i. 5. 

324 

He hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a 
book : he hath not eat paper, as it were ; hath not drunk 
ink: his intellect is not replenished; he is only an 
animal, only sensible in the duller parts. 8 — iv. 2. 

325 

I had rather be a kitten, and cry — mew, 

Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers : 

I had rather hear a brazen canstick* turn'd, 

Or a dry wheel grate on an axletree ; 

And that would set my teeth nothing on edge, 

Nothing so much as mincing poetry ; 

'Tis like the forced gait of a shuffling nag. 

18— iii. 1. 
328 

Though the chameleon Love can feed on the air, I 
am one that am nourished by my victuals, and would 

fain have meat. 2 — ii. 1. 

327 

A base slave, 
A hildingj for a livery, a squire's cloth, 

A pantler, not so eminent. 31 — ii. 3. 

328 
This is a slave, whose easy-borrow'd pride 
Dwells in the tickle grace of her he follows. 

34— ii. 4. 

* A codling anciently meant an immature apple. 

t Candlestick. J A low fellow, only fit to wear a livery. 

16 



182 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

329 

Why dost thou smile so, and kiss thy hand so oft 1 

4— iii. 4. 
330 

Look how imagination blows him ! 4 — ii. 5. 

331 

That such a crafty devil as is his mother 
Should yield the world this ass! a woman, that 
Bears all down with her brain ; and this her son 
Cannot take two from twenty for his heart, 
\nd leave eighteen. 31 — ii. 1. 

332 

Thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a 
milk-maid, if she be in love, may sigh it off. 

5— i. 3. 
333 

Thou art an old love-monger. 8 — ii. 1. 

334 

You speak 
Like one besotted on your sweet delights. 26 — ii. 2. 

335 

Lo, what modicums of wit he utters ! his evasions 
have ears thus long. 26 — ii. 1. 

336 

What a disgrace it is to me to remember thy name, 
or to know thy face to-morrow. 19 — ii. 2. 

337 

A slave, whose gall coins slanders like a mint. 

26— i. 3. 
338 

I am nothing, if not critical.* ' 37 — ii. 1. 

339 

There can be no kernel in this light nut ; the soul 
of this man is his clothes. 11 — ii. 4. 

* Censorious. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 183 

340 

What need'st thou run so many miles about, 
When thou mayst tell thy tale the nearest way? 

24 — iv. 4. 

341 

This is he 
That kiss'd away his hand in courtesy ; 
This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice, 
That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice 
In honourable terms ; nay, he can sing 
A mean most meanly ; and, in ushering, 
Mend him who can : the ladies call him, sweet ; 
The stairs as he treads on them kiss his feet. 

8— v. 2. 
342 

You have got a humour there, 
Does not become a man ; 'tis much to blame : — 
They say, that ira furor brevis est, 
But yond' man's ever angry. 27— i. 2. 

343 

I would give a thousand pound, I could run as 
fast as thou canst. You are straight enough in the 
shoulders, you care not who sees your back. 

18— ii. 4. 
344 

A traveller ! I fear, you have sold your own lands, 
to see other men's : then, to have seen much, and to 
have nothing, is to have rich eyes and poor hands. 

10— iv. 1. 
345 

The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes. When 
he walks, lie moves like an engine, and the ground 
shrinks before the treading. He is able to pierce a 
corslet with his eye ; talks like a knell, and his hum 
is a battery. He sits in his state,* as a thing madef 
for Alexander. What he bids be done, is finished 
with his bidding. 28 — v. 4. 

* Chair of state. t To resemble. 



184 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

346 

Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him ; 
how he jets* under his advanced plumes. 4 — ii. 5. 

347 

The patch is kind enough : but a huge feeder, 

Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day 

More than the wild cat. 9 — ii. 5. 

348 

I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one 
that loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allay- 
ing Tyberf in't ; said to be something imperfect, in 
favouring the first complaint: hasty, and tinder-like, 
upon too trivial motion : one that converses more with 
the buttock of the night, than with the forehead of the 
morning. What I think, I utter ; and spend my ma- 
lice in my breath. 28 — ii. 1. 

349 
In our last conflict four of his five wits went halting 
off, and now is the whole man governed with one : so 
that if he have wit enough to keep himself warm, let 
him bear it for a difference between himself and his 
horse ; for it is all the wealth that he hath left, to be 
known a reasonable creature. 6 — i. 1. 

350 

Thou art not honest : or, 
If thou inclin'st that -way, thou art a coward ; 
Which hoxesj honesty behind, restraining 
From course required. 13 — i. 2. 

351 

Sham'st thou not, knowing whence thou art extraught, 
To let thy tongue detect^ thy base-born heart 1 

23— ii 2. 
352 

Get thee glass eyes ; 
And, like a scurvy politician, seem 
To see the things thou dost not. 34 — iv. 6. 

* Struts. f Water of the Tiber. X To hox is to hamstring. 
§ To show thy meanness of birth by thy indecent railing. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 185 

353 

I would your spirit were easier for advice, 

Or stronger for your need. 13— iv. 3. 

354 

Wilt thou show the whole wealth of thy wit in an 
instant 1 9 — iii. 5. 

355 

I am not fat enough to become the function well; 
nor lean enough to be thought a good student : but to 
be said, an honest man, and a good housekeeper, goes 
as fairly, as to say a careful man, and a great scholar. 

4— iv. 2. 
356 

This man hath robbed many beasts of their par- 
ticular additions ;* he is as valiant as the lion, churlish 
as the bear, slow as the elephant: a man, into whom 
nature hath so crowded humours, that his valour is 
crushedf into folly, his folly sauced with discretion : 
there is no man'hath a virtue, that he hath not a 
glimpse of; nor any man an attaint, but he carries 
some strain of it : He is melancholy without cause, 
and merry against the hair :J He % hath the joints of 
every thing ; but every thing so out of joint, that he 
is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use ; or pur- 
blind Argus, all eyes and no sight. 26 — i. 2. 

357 

He will never follow any thing 

That other men begin. 29 — ii. 1. 

358 
This fellow pecks up wit, as pigeon's peas; 
He is wit's pedler. 8 — v. 2. 

359 

Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current. 

24— i. 3. 
360 

His purse is empty already ; all his golden words 
are spent. 36 — v. 2. 

* Characters. t Mingled. t Grain. 

16* 



186 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

361 

Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall 

To cureless ruin. 9 — iv. 1. 

362 

What a spendthrift he is of his tongue ! 1 — ii. 1. 

363 

That they call compliment, is like the encounter of 
two dog-apes. 10 — ii. 5. 

364 

Hath not the world one man, but he will wear his 
cap with suspicion 'J* Shall I never see a bachelor 
of three-score again 1 Go to, i'faith : an thou wilt 
needs thrust thy neck into a yoke, wear the print of 
it, and sigh away Sundays. 6 — i. 1. 

365 

You shall find there 
A man, who is the abstract of all faults 
That all men follow. 

I must not think, there are 
Evils enough to darken all his goodness : 
His faults, in him, seem as the spots of heaven, 
More fiery by night's blackness ; hereditary, 
Rather than purchased;! what he cannot change, 
Than what he chooses. 30 — i. 4. 

366 

Manhood is melted into courtesies,;); valour into 
compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and 
trim ones§ too : he is now as valiant as Hercules, that 
only tells a lie, and swears it. 6 — iv. 1. 

367 

There's no true drop of blood in him, to be truly 
touched with love : if he be sad, he wants money. 

6— iii. 2. 

* i. e. Subject his head to the disquiet of jealousy, 
t Procured by his own fault. J Ceremony. 

§ Not only men, but trim ones, are turned into tongues; »". e. not 
only common but clever men. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 187 

368 

I have forsworn his company hourly any time this 
two-and-twenty years ; and yet I am bewitched with 
the rogue's company. If the rascal have not given me 
medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged ; it 
could not be else ; I have drunk medicines. 

18— ii. 2. 
369 
You shall see him laugh, till his face be like a wet 
cloak ill laid up. 19 — v. 1. 

370 

Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove, or 
most magnanimous mouse. 19 — iii. 2. 

371. 

An I have not forgotten what the inside of a church 
is made of, I am a pepper-corn, a brewer's horse : The 
inside of a church ! Company, villanous company, 
hath been the spoil of me. 18 — iii. 3. 

372 

Thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lantern in 
the poop, — but 'tis in the nose of thee ; thou art the 
knight of the burning lamp. 18 — iii. 3. 

373 

Assist me, some extemporal god of rhyme ; for, I 
am sure, I shall turn sonnetteer. Devise, wit ; write 
pen ; for I am four whole volumes in folio. 8 — i. 2. 

374 

That unletter'd small-knowing soul. 8 — i. 1. 

375 

I pr'ythee, trouble me no more with vanity. I 
would, thou and I knew where a commodity of good 
names were to be bought. 18 — i. 2. 

376 

A most acute juvenal ; voluble and free of grace ! 

8— iii. 1. 



188 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

377 

You are so fretful, you cannot live long. 18 — iii. 3. 

378 
Thou art the Mars of malcontents. 3 — i. 3. 

379 

He capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth, he 
writes verses, he speaks holiday,* he smells April and 
May. 3— iii. 2. 

380 

What shalt thou expect, 
To be depender on a thing that leans 1 j 
Who cannot be new built ; nor has no friends, 
So much as but to prop him 1 31 — i. 6. 

381 

Your lordship, though not clean past your youth, 
hath yet some smack of age in you, some relish of the 
saltness of time ; and T most humbly beseech your 
lordship, to have a reverend care of your health. 

19— i. 2. 

382 
One that lies three-thirds, and uses a known truth 
to pass a thousand nothings with, should be once 
heard, and thrice beaten. 11 — ii. 4. 

383 

No marvel, though you bite so sharp at reasons, 
You are so empty of them. 26 — ii. 2. 

384 
A knave ; a rascal, an eater of broken meats ; a 
base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred- 
pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave ; a lily-liver'd, 
action-taking knave; a glass-gazing, superserviceable, . 
finical rogue ; one-trunk-inheriting slave. 34 — ii. 2. 

385 
I am an ass indeed ; you may prove it by my long 
ears. I have served him from the hour of my na- 

* Out of the common style. t That inclines towards its fall. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 189 

tivity to this instant, and have nothing" at his hands 
for my service but blows : When I am cold, he 
heats me with beating- : when I am warm, he cools 
me with beating-, t am waked with it, when I sleep ; 
raised with it, when I sit; driven out of doors with it, 
when I go from home ; welcomed home with it, when 
I return : nay, I bear it on my shoulders, as a beggar 
wont her brat ; and, I think, when he hath lamed 
me, I shall beg- with it from door to door. 14 — iv. 4. 

386 

Though I am not naturally honest, I am so some- 
times by chance. 13 — iv. 3. 

387 

I was born about three of the clock in the after- 
noon, with a white head, and something a round 
belly. For my voice, — I have lost it with hollaing-, 
and singing of anthems. To approve my youth 
farther, I will not : the truth is, I am only old in 
judgment and understanding : and he, that will caper 
with me for a thousand marks, let him lend me the 
money, and have at him. 19 — i. 2. 

388 
I am a courtier. See'st thou not the air of the 
court, in these enfoldings 1 hath not my gait in it, 
the measure of the court ? receives not thy nose 
court-odour from me 1 reflect I not on thy baseness, 
court-contempt 1 13 — iv. 3. 

389 
Thou rag of honour ! 24 — i. 3. 

390 

I would have had you put your power well on, 

Before you had worn it out. 

You might have been enough the man you are, 

With striving less to be so : Lesser had been 

The thwartings of your dispositions, if 

You had not shovv'd them how you were disposed, 

Ere they lack'd power to cross you. 28— iii. 2. 

391 

I will be proud. I will read politic authors. I will 



190 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

wash off gross acquaintance. I will be point-device, 
the very man. 4 — ii. 5. 

392 

Methinks, sometimes 1 have no more wit than an 
ordinary man has : but I am a great eater of beef, 
and, I believe, that does harm to my wit. 4 — i. 3. 

393 

Let the doors be shut upon him ; that he may play 
the fool nowhere but in 's own house. 36 — iii. 1. 

394 
How like a fawning publican he looks ! 9 — i. 3. 

395 

Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober ; and 
most vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk : when 
he is best, he is little better than a man ; and when 
he is worst, he is little better than a beast. 9 — i. 2. 

396 
His heart's meteors tilting in his face. 14 — iv. 2. 

397 

This is some fellow, 
Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect 
A saucy roughness ; and constrains the garb, 
Quite from his nature :* He cannot flatter, he ! — 
An honest mind and plain, — he must speak truth : 
An they will take it, so ; if not he's plain. 
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness 
Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends, 
Than twenty sillyf ducking observants, 
That stretch their duties nicely. 34 — ii. 2. 

398 

What's his fault? 
The flat transgression of a school-boy ; who, being 
overjoyed with finding a bird's nest, shows it his com- 
panion and he steals it. 6 — ii. 1. 

♦ Forces his outside or his appearance to something totally differ- 
ent from his natural disposition. t Simple or rustic. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 191 

399 

Tell me, for which of my bad parts didst thou first 
fall in love with me 1 

For them all together ; which maintained so politic 
a state of evil, that they will not admit any good part 
to intermingle with them. 6 — v. 2. 

400 

And I, forsooth, in love ! I, that have been love's 
whip ; 
A very beadle to a humorous sigh ; 
A critic ; nay, a night-watch constable ; 
A domineering pedant o'er the boy, 
Than whom no mortal so magnificent ! 
This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy ; 
This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid; 
Regent of love-rhymes, lord of folded arms, 
The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans, 
Liege of all loiterers and malcontents, 
Sole imperator and great general 
Of trotting paritors,* O my little heart ! 
And I to be a corporal of his field, 
And wear his colours like a tumbler's hoop ! 
What 1 I ! I love ! I sue ! I seek a wife ! 
A woman, that is like a German clock, 
Still a repairing; ever out of frame ; 
And never going aright, being a watch, 
But being watch'd that it may still go right 1 

tt *JF "f? *tF * -Jr 

And I to sigh for her ! to watch for her ! 

To pray for her ! Go to ; it is a plague, 

That Cupid will impose for my neglect 

Of his almighty dreadful little might. 8 — iii. 1. 

401 

Thou gav'st thine ears, like tapsters, that bid welcome 
To knaves, and all approachers. 27 — iv. 3. 

402 

Being once chafed, he cannot 
Be rein'd again to temperance. 28 — iii. 3. 

* The officers of the spiritual courts wha serve citations. 



192 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

403 
Having his ear full of his airy fame, 
Grows dainty of his worth. 26 — i. 3. 

404 

A knave very voluble ; no farther conscionable, 
than in putting on the mere form of civil and humane 
seeming, for the better compassing of his salt and 
most hidden loose affection. A slippery and subtle 
knave ; a finder-out of occasions; that has an eye can 
stamp and counterfeit advantages, though true ad- 
vantage never present itself. 37 — ii. 1. 

405 

What a blunt fellow is this grown to be ! 

He was quick mettle when he went to school. 

So is he now, in execution 

Of any bold or noble enterprise, 

However he puts on this tardy form. 

This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, 

Which gives men stomach to digest his words 

With better appetite. 29— i. 2. 

406 

That ever this fellow should have fewer words than 
a parrot, and yet the son of a woman ! — His industry- 
is — up stairs, and down stairs ; his eloquence, the 
parcel of a reckoning. 18 — ii. 4. 

407 

A hungry lean-faced villain, 
A mere anatomy, a mountebank, 
A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller ; 
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch, 
A living dead man. 14 — v. 1. 

408 
A man, that from very nothing, and beyond the 
imagination of his neighbours, is grown into an un- 
speakable estate. 13 — iv. 1. 

400 
This is in thee a nature but affected, 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 193 

A poor unmanly melancholy, sprung 

From change of fortune. 27 — iv. 3. 

410 

The world's large tongue 
Proclaims you for a man replete with works ; 
Full of comparisons and wounding flouts ; 
Which you on all estates will execute, 
That lie within the mercy of your wit. 8 — v. 2. 

411 

Art thou a man 1 thy form cries out thou art ; 

Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote 

The unreasonable fury of a beast : 

Unseemly woman, in a seeming man ! 

Or ill-beseeming beast, in seeming both ! 

Thou hast amazed me : 

I thought thy disposition better temper'd. 

35— iii. 3. 
412 

O, sir, we quarrel in print, by the book ; as you 
have books for good manners : I will name you the 
degrees. The first, the Retort courteous ; the second, 
the Quip modest ; the third, the Reply churlish ; the 
fourth, the Reproof valiant ; the fifth, the Counter- 
check quarrelsome ; the sixth, the Lie ivith circum- 
stance ; the seventh, the Lie direct. All these you 
may avoid, but the lie direct ; and you may avoid 
that too, with an J/! I knew when seven justices 
could not take up a quarrel ; but when the parties 
were met themselves, one of them thought but of an 
If as If you said so, then I said so ; and they 
shook hands, and swore brothers. Your If is the 
only peace-maker ; much virtue in If 10 — v. 4. 

413 

O knowledge ill-inhabited ! worse than Jove in a 
thatched house. 10 — iii. 2. 

414 

This is a slight unmeritable man, 
Meet to be sent on errands. 

3JC *fC ijC 5f» .yi 

17 



194 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

And though we lay these honours on this man, 

To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads, 

He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold, 

To groan and sweat under the business, 

Either led or driven, as we point the way ; 

And having brought our treasure where we will, . 

Then we take down his load, and turn him offj 

Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears, 

And graze in commons. 29 — iv. 1. 

415 

A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow. 

5— iii. 2. 

416 

He ambled up and down 
With shallow jesters, and rash bavin wits, 
Soon kindled and soon burn'd : 
Had his great name profaned with their scorns ; 
And gave his countenance, against his name, 
To laugh at gibing boys, and stand the push 
Of every beardless vain comparative : 
Grew a companion to the common streets, 
EnfeofFd himself to popularity : 
That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes, 
They surfeited with honey ; and began 
To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little 
More than a little is by much too much. 
So, when he had occasion to be seen, 
He was but as the cuckoo is in June, 
Heard, not regarded. 18 — iii. 2. 

417 
I leave my duty a little unthought of, and speak 
out of my injury. 4 — v. 1. 

418 

He hath bought a pair of cast lips of Diana : a nun 
of winter's sisterhood kisses not more religiously ; 
the very ice of chastity is in them. 10 — iii. 4. 

419 

My friends — they praise me, and make an ass of 
me ; now, my foes tell me plainly I am an ass : so 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 195 

that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of my- 
self; and by my friends I am abused : so that, con- 
clusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives make 
your two affirmatives, why, then the worse for my 
friends, and the better for my foes. 4 — v. 1. 

420 

Hence shall we see, 
If power change purpose, what our seemers be. 

5— i. 4. 

421 

Why art thou old, and want'st experience 1 
Or wherefore dost abuse it, if thou hast it 1 

22— v. 1. 
422 

I am a feather for each wind that blows. 13 — ii. 3. 

423 

Thou should'st not have been old, before thou 
had'st been wise. 34 — i. 5. 

424 
Well, whiles I am a beggar I will rail, 
And say, there is no sin, but to be rich ; 
And being rich, my virtue then shall be, 
To say, — there is no vice, but beggary. 16 — ii. 2. 

425 
Since I am crept in favour with myself, 
I will maintain it with some little cost. 24 — i. 2. 

426 

These old fellows 
Have their ingratitude in them hereditary : 
Their blood is caked, 'tis cold, it seldom flows; 
'Tis lack of kindly warmth, they are not kind ; 
And Nature, as it grows again toward earth, 
Is fashion'd for the journey, dull and heavy. 

27— ii. 2. 

427 
Your speech is passion, 
But, pray you, stir no embers up. 30 — ii. 2. 



196 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

428 

Anger's my meat ; I sup upon myself, 

And so shall starve with feeding. 28 — iv. 2. 

429 

'Tis the infirmity of his age : yet he hath ever but 
slenderly known himself. 

The best and soundest of his time hath been but 
rash; then must we look to receive from his age, not 
alone the imperfections of long-engrafted condition, 
but, therewithal, the unruly waywardness, that infirm 
and choleric years bring with them. 34 — i. 1. 

430 

His discontents are unremovably 
Coupled to nature. 27 — v. 2. 

431 

I see no more in you, than in the ordinary 

Of nature's sale-work. 10 — iii. 5. 

432 

A man, whose blood 
Is very snow-broth ; one who never feels 
The wanton stings and motions of the sense. 5 — i. 5. 

433 

How green are you, and fresh in this old world ! 

16— iii. 4. 
434 

Things small as nothing, for request's sake only, 
He makes important: Possess'd he is with greatness; 
And speaks not to himself, but with a pride 
That quarrels at self-breath ; imagined worth 
Holds in his blood such sw 7 oln and hot discourse, 
That, 'twixt his mental and his active parts, 
He in commotion rages, 

And batters down himself: What should I say 1 
He is so plaguy proud, that the death tokens of it 
Cry — No recovery. 26 — ii. 3. 



INFERIOR CHARACTERS. 197 

435 

No care, no stop ! so senseless of expense, 

That he will neither know how to maintain it, 

Nor cease his flow of riot : Takes no account 

How things go from him ; nor resumes no care 

Of what is to continue : Never mind 

Was to be so unwise, to be so kind. 

What shall be done 1 He will not hear, till feel. 

27— ii. 2. 
436 

Alas, he is shot through the ear with a love-song ; 
the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's 
butt-shaft.* 35— ii. 4. 

437 

There should be small love 'mongst these sweet 

knaves, 
And all this court'sy ! The strain of man's bred out 
Into baboon and monkey.f 27 — i. 1. 

438 

You smell this business with a sense as cold 
As is a dead man's nose. 13 — ii. 1. 

439 

He would make his will 
Lord of his reason. 30 — iii. 11. 

440 

Your wisdom is consumed in confidence. 29 — ii. 2. 

441 

What would you have mel go to the wars, would 
you f where a man may serve seven years for the loss 
of a leg, and have not money enough in the end to buy 
him a wooden one. 33 — iv. 6. 

442 

They should be good men ; their arTairs| as§ righteous : 
But all hoods make not monks. 25 — iii. 1. 

* Arrow. 

t Man is degenerated ; his strain or lineage is worn down to a 
monkey. J Professions. § *#s, i. e. are. 

17* 



198 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

443 

There are a kind of men so loose of soul, 
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs. 

37— iii. 3. 
444 

Think you, a little din can daunt mine ears! 

Have I not in my time heard lions roar ! 

Have I not heard the sea, puff'd up with winds, 

Rage like an angry boar, chafed with sweat ] 

Have I not heard great ordnance in the field, 

And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies'? 

Have I not in the pitched battle heard 

Load 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang ? 

And do you tell me of a woman's tongue, 

That gives not half so great a blow to the ear, 

As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire? 

Tush ! tush ! fear boys with bugs.* 12 — i. 2. 

445 
I know not why 1 am so sad ; 
It wearies me ; you say, it wearies you ; 
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, 
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, 
I am to learn ; 

And such a want-wit sadness makes of me, 
That I have much ado to know myself. 9 — i. 1. 



DEPRAVED AND HYPOCRITICAL 
CHARACTERS. 

446 
In the catalogue ye go for men ; 
As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, 
Shoughs,f water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are clepedj 
All by the name of dogs : the valued file 

♦Fright boys with bug-bears. t Wolf-dogs. J Called. 



DEPRAVED CHARACTERS. 199 

Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, 
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one 
According- to the gift which bounteous nature 
Hath in him closed ; whereby he does receive 
Particular addition,* from the bill 
That writes them all alike : and so of men. 

15— iii. 1. 
447 
Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile ; 
And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart; 
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, 
And frame my face to all occasions. 23— iii. 2. 

448 
Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin : 
For thou thyself hast been a libertine, 
As sensual as the brutish stingf itself; 
And all the embossed sores, and headed evils, 
That thou with license of free foot hast caught, 
Would'st thou disgorge into the general world. 

10— ii. 7. 
449 
Swear his thought over 
By each particular star in heaven, and 
By all their influences, you may as well 
Forbid the sea for to obey the moon, 
As or, by oath, remove, or counsel, shake 
The fabric of his folly ; whose foundation 
Is piled upon his faith,! and will continue 
The standing of his body. 13 — i. 2. 

450 

Thon almost mak'st me waver in my faith 

To hold opinion with Pythagoras, 

That souls of animals infuse themselves 

Into the trunks of men : thy currish spirit 

Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter, 

Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, 

And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam, 

Infused itself in thee : for thy desires 

Are wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous. 9 — iv. 1. 

* Title, description. t Sting-fly. t Settled belief. 



200 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

451 

Thy tyranny 
Together working with thy jealousies, — 
Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle 
For girls of nine ! — O think, what they have done, 
And then run mad, indeed ; stark mad ! for all 
Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it. 

13— iii. 2. 
452 

I am well acquainted with your manner of wrench- 
ing the true cause the false way. It is not a confident 
brow, nor the throng of words, that come with such 
more than impudent sauciness from you, can thrust me 
from a level consideration. 19 — ii. 1. 

453 

Can you not see 1 or will you not observe 

The strangeness of his alter'd countenance 1 

With what a majesty he bears himself; 

How insolent of late he is become, 

How proud, peremptory, and unlike himself? 

We know the time, since he was mild and affable. 

But meet him now, and be it in the morn, 

When every one will give the time of day, 

He knits his brow, and shows an angry eye, 

And passeth by with stiff, unbowed knee. 22 — iii. 1. 

454 

O, thou dissembling cub ! what wilt thou be, 
When time hath sow'd a grizzle on thy case 1* 
Or will not else thy craft so quickly grow, 
That thine own trip shall be thine overthrow. 

4— v. 1. 
455 

Over-proud, 
And under-honest ; in self-assumption greater, 
Than in the note of judgment. 26 — ii. 3. 

456 

O foolish youth ! 
Thou seek'st the greatness that will overwhelm thee. 

,19— iv. 4. 

* Skin. 



DEPRAVED CHARACTERS. 201 

457 
Pride went before, ambition follows him. 22 — i. 1. 

458 

As dissolute, as desperate : yet through both 
I see some sparkles of a better hope, 
Which elder days may happily bring forth. 

17— v. 3. 
459 

The hope and expectation of thy time 

Is ruin'd ; and the soul of every man 

Prophetically does fore-think thy fall. 18 — iii. 2. 

460 

He cannot temperately transport his honours 
From where he should begin, and end ; but will 
Lose those that he hath won. 28 — ii. 1. 

461 
Beware of yonder dog; 
Look, when he fawns, he bites ; and, when he bites, 
His venom tooth will rankle to the death : 
Have not to do with him, beware of him, 
Sin, death, and hell, have set their marks on him ; 
And all their ministers attend on him. 24 — i. 3. 

462 

A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, 
but as a drunken sleep ; careless, reckless, and fear- 
less of what's past, present, or to come ; insensible of 
mortality, and desperately mortal.* 5 — iv. 2. 

463 

Trust not to those cunning waters of his eyes, 

For villany is not without such rheum ;f 

And he, long traded in it, makes it seem - 

Like rivers of remorsef and innocency. 16 — iv. 3. 

464 

What ! can so young a thorn begin to prick 1 

23— v. 5. 

* Desperately wicked. f Moisture. tPity- 



202 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

465 

You may as well go stand upon the beach, 
And bid the main flood bate his usual height ; 
You may as well use question with the wolf, 
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb ; 
You may as well forbid the mountain pines, 
To wag their high tops, and to make no noise, 
When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven ; 
You may as well do any thing most hard, 
As seek to soften that (than which what's harder 1) 
His heart. 9 — iv. 1. 

466 

My brain, more busy than the labouring spider, 
Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies. 

22— iii. 1. 
467 

Thy face is, visor-like, unchanging, 
Made impudent with use of evil deeds. 23 — i. 4. 

468 
A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd, 
Quoted, and sign'd, to do a deed of shame. 

16— iv. 2. 

469 

True honest men being heard, like false iEneas, 
Were, in his time, thought false : and Sinon's weeping 
Did scandal many a holy tear ; took pity 
From most true wretchedness : So, thou, 
Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men ; 
Goodly, and gallant, shall be false, and perjured, 
From thy great fail. 31 — iii. 4. 

470 

I know a discontented gentleman, 

Whose humble means match not his haughty mind ; 

Gold were as good as twenty orators, 

And will no doubt, tempt him to any thing. 

24— iv. 2. 
471 

Thou art said to have a stubborn soul, 
That apprehends no farther than this world, 
And squar'st thy life according. 5 — v. 1. 



DEPRAVED CHARACTERS. 203 

472 

The hopes we have in him touch ground, 
And dash themselves to pieces. 19 — iv. 1. 

473 

I took him for the plainest harmless't creature, 
That breath'd upon the earth a Christian; 
Made him my book, wherein my soul recorded 
The history of all her secret thoughts : 
So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue. 

24— iii. 5. 
474 

So finely bolted* didst thou seem : 

And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot, 

To mark the full-fraught man, and best endued,f 

With some suspicion. 20 — ii. 2. 

475 
Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, 
that went to sea with the ten commandments, but 
scraped one out of the table.}: 5 — i. 2. 

476 

In following him I follow but myself; 

Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, 

But seeming so, for my peculiar end : 

For when my outward action doth demonstrate 

The native act and figure of my heart 

In compliment extern,^ 'tis not long after 

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve 

For daws to peck at : I am not what I am. 37 — i. 1. 

477 
Thou art a traitor and a miscreant ! 
Too\good to be so, and too bad to live ; 
Since, the more fair and crystal is the sky, 
The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly. 17 — i. 1. 

478 
The multiplying villanies of nature 
Do swarm upon him. 15 — i. 1. 

* Sifted. t Endowed. 

I The eighth. § Outward show, civility. 



204 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

479 

If you were born to honour, show it now ; 
If put upon you, make the judgment good 
That thought you worthy of it. 33 — iv. 6. 

480 

You play the spaniel, 
And think with wagging of your tongue to win me; 
But, whatsoe'er thou tak'st me for, I am sure 
Thou hast a cruel nature. 25 — v. 2. 

481 • 

Think him as a serpent's egg, 
Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind,* grow mis- 
chievous. 29 — ii. 1. 

482 
A serviceable villain, 
As duteous to the vices of thy mistress, 
As badness would desire. 34 — iv. 6. 

483 

Milk-liver'd man ! 
That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs; 
Why hast not in thy brows an eye discerning 
Thine honour from thy suffering. 34 — iv. 2. 

484 

Correction and instruction must both work, 

Ere this rude beast will profit. 5 — iii. 2. 

485 

Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know, 

My idleness doth hatch. 30 — i. 2. 

488 

Tetchyf and wayward was thy infancy ; [rious ; 

Thy school-days, frightful, desperate, wild, and fu- 
Thy prime of manhood, daring, bold, and venturous ; 
Thy age confirm'd, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody, 
More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred. 

24 — iv. 4. 

* Nature. t Cross. 



DEPRAVED CHARACTERS. 205 

487 

Fear, and not love, begets his penitence ; 

Forget to pity him, lest thy pity prove 

A serpent, that will sting thee to the heart. 

17— v. 3. 

488 

Thy nature did commence in sufferance, time 

Hath made thee hard in't. 27— iv. 3. 

489 



Upon thy eyeballs murd'rous tyranny 
Sits in grim majesty, to fright the world. 



490 



22— iii. 2. 



Poems, 



Thus merely with the garment of a grace, 
The naked and concealed fiend he cover'd, 
That th' unexperienced gave the tempter place, 
Which like a cherubim above them hover'd. 

491 

None serve with him but constrained things, 

Whose hearts are absent too. 15 — v. 4. 

492 
What shall I say to thee, thou cruel, 
Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature ! 
Thou that did'st bear the key of all my counsels, 
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul, 
That almost might'st have coin'd me into gold — 
Would'st thou have practised on me for thy use 1 

'Tis so strange, 
That, though the truth of it stands off as gross 
As black from white, my eye will scarcely see it. 
4*,. * * * * * 

I will weep for thee ; 
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like 
Another fall of man. 20 — ii. 2. 

493 

The image of a wicked heinous fault 
Lives in his eye ; that close aspect of his 
Does show the mood of a much-troubled breast. 

16— iv. 2. 
18 



206 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

494 

Thus do all traitors ; 
If their purgation did consist in words, 
They are as innocent as grace itself. 10— i. 3. 

495 

Came he right now* to sing a raven's note, 
Whose. dismal tune bereft my vital powers; 
And thinks he, that the chirping of a wren, 
By crying comfort from a hollow breast, 
Can chase away the first conceived sound 1 
Hide not thy poison with such sugar'd words. 

22— iii. 2. 
496 

Thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward ; 

Thou little valiant, great in villany ! 

Thou ever strong upon the stronger side ! 

Thou fortune's champion, that dost never fight 

But when her humorous ladyship is by 

To teach thee safety ! 16 — iii. 1. 

497 

An inhuman wretch, 
Uncapable of pity, void and empty 
From any dram of mercy. 9 — iv. 1. 

498 

Seems he a dove 1 his feathers are but borrow'd, 
For he's disposed as the hateful raven. 
Is he a lamb'? his skin is surely lent him, 
For he's inclined as are the ravenous wolves, 
Who cannot steal a shape, that means deceit 1 

22— iii. 1. 
499 

'Tis not impossible, 
JBut one, the wicked'st caitiff on the ground, 
May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute, 
As Angelo ; even so may Angelo, 
In all his dressings,! characts, titles, forms, 
Be an arch-villain. 5 — v. 1. 

* Just now. t Habits and characters of office. 






DEPRAVED CHARACTERS. 207 

500 

His gift is in devising impossible* slanders : none 
but libertines delight in him ; and the commendation 
is not in his wit, but in his villany.f 6 — ii. 1. 

501 

Abhorred slave ; 
Which any print of goodness will not take, 
Being capable of all ill. 1 — i. 2. 

502 

Now I feel 
Of what coarse metal ye are moulded, — envy. 
How eagerly ye follow my disgraces, 
As if it fed ye ! and how sleek and wanton 
Ye appear in every thing may bring my ruin ! 
Follow you envious courses, men of malice ; 
You have Christian warrant for them, and, no doubt, 
In time will find their fit rewards. 25 — iii. 2. 

503 

Mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns, 3 

That dwell in every region of his face. 37 — iv. 1. 

504 

Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee, 
Whose duty is deceivable and false. 17 — ii. 3. 

505 

Which is the villain 1 Let me see his eyes ; 

That, when I note another man like him, 

I may avoid him. 6 — v. 1. 

506 

And am I then a man to be beloved 1 

O monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought ! 

23— iii. 2. 

507 

Though you can guess what temperance should be, 
You know not what it is. 30 — iii. 11. 

* Incredible. t In his devising slanders. 



208 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

508 

There is a kind of confession in your looks, which 
your modesties have not craft enough to colour. 

36— ii. 2. 
509 

Being 1 fed by us, you used us so 
As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird,* 
Useth the sparrow : did oppress our nest ; 
Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk, 
That even our love durst not come near your sight, 
For fear of swallowing. 18 — v. 1. 

510 

Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye. 24 — iv. 2. 

511 

A devil, a born devil, on whose nature 
Nurturef can never stick ; on whom my pains, 
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost ; 
And as, with age, his body uglier grows, 
So his mind cankers. 1 — iv. 1. 

512 

A fearful eye thou hast : Where is that blood, 

That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks 1 

So foul a sky clears not without a storm. 16 — iv. 2. 

513 

His face, though full of cares, yet show'd content ; 

So mild, that Patience seem'd to scorn his woes. 

An humble gait, calm looks, eyes wailing still, 
A brow unbent, that seem'd to welcome woe ; 
Cheeks' neither red nor pale, but mingled so 
That blushing red no guilty instance gave, 
Nor ashy pale the fear that false hearts have. 

But, like a constant and confirmed devil, 
He entertain'd a show so seeming just, 

* The cuckoo's chicken, who being hatched and fed by the spar- 
row, in whose nest the cuckoo's egg was laid, grows in time able 
to devour her nurse. t Education. 



DEPRAVED CHARACTERS. 209 

And therein so ensconced his secret evil, 
That jealousy itself could not mistrust, 
False-creeping- craft and perjury should thrust 
Into so bright a day such black-faced storms, 
Or blot with hell-born sin such saint-like forms. 

Poems. 

514 

Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade.* 5 — iii. 1. 

515 

The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but 
the extremity of both ends. When thou wast in thy 
gilt, and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much 
curiosity ;f in thy rags thou knowest none, but art 
despised for the contrary. 27 — iv. 3. 

516 

He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause 

Within the belt of rule. 15— v. 2. 

517 

Allowed by order of law a furred gown to keep him 
warm ; and furred with fox and lamb-skins too, to 
signify, that craft, being- richer than innocency, 
stands for the facing. 5 — iii. 2. 

518 

Why should we be tender, 
To let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us ^ 
Play judge, and executioner, all himself? 31 — iv. 2. 

519 

In seeking tales and informations, 

Against this man, (whose honesty the devil 

And his disciples only envy at,) 

Ye blew the fire that burns ye. 25 — v. 2. 

520 

Whose disposition, all the world well knows, 

Will not be rubb'd, nor stopp'd. 34 — ii. 2. 

* An establish'd habit. 

tFor too much finical delicacy. [Here is the depth, precision, 
and acuteness, of Aristotle.] 

18* 



210 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

521 

His show 
Beguiles him, as the mournful crocodile 
With sorrow snares relenting 1 passengers; 
Or as the snake, roll'd in a flowering* bank, 
With shining checker'd slough,| doth sting a child, 
That, for the beauty, thinks it excellent. 22 — iii. 1. 

522 

This cur is venom-mouth'd, and I 

Have not the power to muzzle him ; therefore, best 

Not wake him in his slumber. 25 — i. 1. 

523 

He hath faults, with surplus, to tire in repetition. 

28— i. 1. 
524 

O that deceit should dwell 
In such a gorgeous palace ! 35 — iii. 2. 

525 

Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites, 
Courteous destroyers, affable wolves, meek bears, 
You fools of fortune, trencher-friends, time's flies,f 
Cap and knee slaves, vapours, and minute-jacks. § 

27— iii. 6. 
526 

If thou wert honourable, 
Thou would'st have told this tale for virtue, not 
For such an end thou seek'st ; as base, as strange. 
Thou wrong'st a gentleman, who is as far 
From thy report, as thou from honour. 31 — i. 7. 

527 

How fairly this lord strives to appear foul ! takes 
virtuous copies to be wicked ; like those, that, under 
hot ardent zeal, would set whole realms on fire. Of 
such a nature is his politic love. 27 — iii. 3. 

*i. e. In the flowers growing on the bank. fSkin. 

I Flies of a season. § Jacks of the clock. 






DEPRAVED CHARACTERS. 211 

528 

I would not buy 
Their mercy at the price of one fair word ; 
Nor check my courage for what they can give, 
To have 't with saying, Good morrow. 28 — iii. 3. 

529 

He hath no friends, but who are friends for fear. 

24— v. 2. 
530 

Thou disease of a friend, and not himself! 

Has friendship such a faint and milky heart, 

It turns in less than two nights 1 27 — iii. 1. 

531 

How he coasts, 
And hedges, his own way.* But in this point 
All his tricks founder, and he brings his physic 
After his patient's death. 25 — iii. 2. 

532 

Tremble, thou wretch, 
That hast within thee undivulged crimes, 
Unwhipp'd of justice. 34 — iii. 2. 

533 

If the devil have given thee proofs for sin, 

Thou wilt prove his. 5 — iii. 2. 

534 
Too bad for bad report. 31 — i. 1. 

535 
Thou know'st no law of God nor man ; 
No beast so fierce, but knows some touch of pity. 

24— i. 2. 

536 

O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face ! 
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave 1 
Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical ! 

* Not to take the direct and open path, but to steal covertly 
through circumvolutions. 



212 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb ! 

Despised substance of divinest show ! 

Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st, 

A damned saint, an honourable villain ! 35 — iii. 2. 

537 

Is not thy kindness subtle, covetous, 

If not a usuring kindness ; and as rich men deal gifts, 

Expecting in return twenty for one 1 27 — iv. 3. 

538 

He that will give good words to thee, will flatter 
Beneath abhorring. 28 — i. 1. 

539 

This top-proud fellow, 
(Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but 
From sincere motions,*) by intelligence, 
And proofs as clear as founts in July, when 
We see each grain of gravel, I do know 
To be corrupt and treasonous. 25 — i. 1. 

540 

All goodness 
Is poison to thy stomach. 25 — iii. 2. 

541 

False of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand ; hog in 
sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in mad- 
ness, lion in prey. 34 — iii. 4. 

542 

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, 

And every tongue brings in a several tale, 

And every tale condemns me for a villain. 24 — v. 3. 

543 

Such smiling rogues as these, 
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain [sion 

Which are too intrinsef t' unloose : smooth every pas- 
That in the nature of their lords rebels ; 
Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods ; 

' * Honest indignation. t Perplexed. 



DEPRAVED CHARACTERS. 213 

Renege,* affirm, and turn their halcyonf beaks 
With every gale and vary of their masters, 
As knowing nought, like dogs, but following. 

34— ii. 2. 
544 

His red sparkling eyes blab his heart's malice. 

22— iii. 1. 
545 

Thou art a slave, whom fortune's tender arm 
With favour never clasp'd ; but bred a dog. 

27— iv. 3. 
54G 

I do the wrong and first begin to brawl. 
The secret mischiefs that I set abroach, 
I lay unto the grievous charge of others. 
But then I sigh, and with a piece of scripture, 
Tell them — that God bids us do good for evil. 
And thus I clothe my naked villany 
With old odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ ; 
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil. 

24— i. 3. 
547 

I can counterfeit the deep tragedian ; 

Speak, and look back, and pry on every side, 

Tremble and start at wagging of a straw. 

Intending! deep suspicion : ghastly looks, 

Are at my service, like enforced smiles; 

And both are ready in iheir offices, 

At any time to grace my stratagems. 24 — iii. 5. 

548 

No man's pie is freed 
From his ambitious finger. 25 — i. 1. 

549 

Profane fellow ! 
Wert thou the son of Jupiter, and no more, 
But what thou art, besides, thou wert too base 
To be a groom : thou wert dignified enough, 

* Disown. 

t The bird called the king -fisher, which, when dried, and hung by 
a thread, is supposed to turn his bill to the point from whence the 
wind blows. J Pretending. 



^214 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

Even to the point of envy, if twere made 
Comparative for your virtues, to be styled 
The under-hangman of the kingdom ; and hated 
For being preferr'd so well. 31 — ii. 3. 

550 

If thou hadst not been born the worst of men, 

Thou hadst been a knave and flatterer.* 27 — iv. 3. 

551 

From whose so many weights of baseness cannot 

A dram of worth be drawn. 31 — iii. 5. 

552 

You know no rules of charity, 
Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses. 

24— i. 2. 
553 

Insulting tyranny begins to jet. 24 — ii. 4. 

554 

Thou wast seal'd in thy nativity 

The slave of nature and the son of hell ! 24 — i. 3. 

555 

Thou globe of sinful continents, what a life dost 
thou lead i 19— ii. 4. 

556 

His humour 
Was nothing but mutation ; ay, and that 
From one bad thing to worse. 31 — iv. 2. 

557 

The composition, that your valour and fear makes 
in you, is a virtue of a good wing.f 11 — i. 1. 

* Dr. Johnson says, that "Dryden has quoted two verses of Vir- 
gil, to show how well he could have written satires." Shakspeare 
■has here given a specimen of the same power by a line bitter be- 
yond all bitterness, in which Timon tells Apemantus that he had 
not virtue enough for the vices which he condemned. 

f To fly for safety. 



DEPRAVED CHARACTERS* 215 

558 

From the extremest upward of thy head, 

To the descent and dust beneath thy feet, 

A most toad-spotted traitor. 34 — v. & 

559 

And what may make him blush in being- known, 
He'll stop the course by which it might be known. 

3a— i. 2. 
560 

Spiteful and wrathful ; who, as others do, 

Loves for his own ends, not for you. 15 — iii. 5* 

561 

A wretch whom nature is ashamed, 

Almost to acknowledge hers. 34 — i. 1. 

562 

He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere, 
Ill-faced, worse-bodied, shapeless every where ; 
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind ; 
Stigmatical in making,* worse in mind. 14 — iv. 2. 

563 

Whose tongue more poisons than the adder's tooth ! 

23— i. 4. 
564 

I will converse with iron-witted fools, 

And unrespective boys ; none are for me, 

That look into me with considerate eyes. 24 — iv. 2- 

565 

With doubler tongue 
Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung. 

7— iii. 2. 

566 

There is no more mercy in him, than there is milk 
in a male tiger. 28 : — v. 4. 

* Marked by nature with deformity. 






216 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

567 

O villains, vipers, 
Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man ! 17 — iii. 2. 

568 

This holy fox, 
Or wolf, or both ; for he is equal ravenous, 
As he is subtle ; and as prone to mischief, 
As able to perform it. 25 — i. 1. 

569 

Thou most lying slave, 
Whom stripes may move, not kindness. 1 — i. 2. 

570 

For he is set so only to himself, 

That nothing but himself, which looks like man, 

Is friendly with him. 27 — v. 2. 

571 

Thou art as opposite to every good, 

As the antipodes are unto us, 

Or as the south to the septentrion.* 

O, tiger's heart, wrapp'd in a woman's hide ! 

23— i. 4. 

572 

One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel ; 
A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough ; 
A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff; [mands 

A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that counter- 
The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands. 

14— iv. 2. 

573 

The heaviness and guilt within my bosom 

Takes off my manhood. 31 — v. 2. 

574 

Thou art reverent 
Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life. 

21— iii. 1. 

* The north. 



FEMALE CHARACTERS. 217 

575 

Never did I know 
A creature, that did bear the shape of man, 
So keen and greedy to confound a man. 9 — iii. 2. 

576 

A hovering temporizer, that 
Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil, 
Inclining to them both. 13 — i. 2. 

577 
I never heard a man of his place, gravity, and learn- 
ing, so wide of his own respect. 3 — iii. 1. 

578 

This outward-sainted deputy, 

Whose settled visage and deliberate word 

Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth enmew,* 

As falcon doth the fowl, — is yet a devil ; 

His filth within being cast, he would appear 

A pond as deep as hell. 5 — iii. 1. 



FEMALE CHARACTERS. 
SUPERIOR. 

579 
She is beautiful ; and therefore to be woo'd ; 
She is a woman ; therefore to be won. 21 — v. 3. 

580 

In her youth 
There is a pronef and speechless dialect, 
Such as moves men ; beside, she hath prosperous art, 
When she will play with reason and discourse, 
And well she can persuade. 5 — i. 3. 

* Shut up. t Prompt, 

19 



218 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

581 
Happy in this, she is not yet so old, 
But she may learn ; and happier than this, 
She is not bred so dull but she can learn ; 
Happiest of all, is, that her gentle spirit 
Commits itself to yours, to be directed. 9 — iii. 2. 

582 

She did make defect, perfection, 
And, breathless, power breathe forth. — 
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 
Her infinite variety. 30 — ii. 2. 

583 

Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, 

To weep ; whose every passion fully strives 

To make itself, in thee, fair and admired. 30 — i. 1. 

584 

I have those hopes of her good, that her education 
promises : her dispositions she inherits, which make 
fair gifts fairer ! for where an unclean mind carries 
virtuous qualities,* there commendations go with pity, 
they are virtues and traitors too ; in her, they are the 
better for their simpleness ;f she derives her honesty, 
and achieves her goodness. 11 — i. 1. 

585 

Alack, what heinous sin is it in me, 

To be ashamed to be my father's child ! 

But though I am a daughter to his blood, 

I am not to his manners. 9 — ii. 3. 

586 

My shame will hang upon my richest robes, 

And show itself, attire me how I can. 22 — ii. 4. 

587 

O constancy, be strong upon my side ! 

Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue ! 

* dualities of good breeding and condition. 

t Her excellencies are the better because they are artless. 



FEMALE CHARACTERS. 219 

T have a man's mind, but a woman's might. 
How hard it is for women to keep counsel ! 

29— ii. 4. 

588 

For she is wise, if I can judge of her ; 
And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true ; 
And true she is, as she hath proved herself; 
And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true, 
Shall she be placed in my constant soul. 9 — ii. 6. 

589 

She will outstrip all praise, 
And make it halt behind her. 1 — iv. 1. 

590 

All, that life can rate 
Worth name of life, in thee hath estimate ;* 
Youth, beauty, wisdom, courage, virtue, all 
That happiness and prime can happy call. 11 — ii. 1. 

591 

She is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a dis- 
position, that she holds it a vice in her goodness, not 

to do more than she is requested 

In any honest suit ; she's framed as fruitful 
As the free elements. 37 — ii. 3. 

592 

Each your doing, 
So singular in each particular, 
Crowns what you are doing in the present deeds, 
That all your acts are queen's. 13 — iv. 3. 

593 

She hath all courtly parts more exquisite, 
Than lady, ladies, woman ;t from every one 
The best she hath, and she, of all compounded, 
Outsells them all. 31 — iii. 5. 

* t. e. May be counted among the gifts enjoyed by thee. 
fThan any lady, than all ladies, than all womankind. 



220 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

594 

She's a lady 
So tender of rebukes, that words are strokes, 
And strokes death to her. 31— iii. 5. 

595 

For I am sick, and capable* of fears ; 

Oppress'd with wrongs, and therefore full of fears ; 

A widow, husbandless, subject to fears ; 

A woman, naturally born to fears. 16 — iii. 1. 

596 

Her passions are made of nothing but the finest 
part of pure love : we cannot call her winds and 
waters, sighs and tears ; they are greater storms and 
tempests than almanacks can report : this cannot be 
cunning in her ; if it be, she makes a shower of rain 
as well as Jove. 30 — i. "2. 

597 

All of her, that is out of door most rich, 

If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare, 

She is alone the Arabian bird.f 31— i. 7. 

598 

Thou look'st 
Modest as justice, and thou seem'st a palace 
For the crown'd truth to dwell in. 33 — v. 1. 

599 

A maiden never bold ; 
Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion 
Blush'd at herself. 37— i. 3. 

600 

Her smoothness, 
Her very silence, and her patience, 
Speak to the people, and they pity her. 10 — i. 3. 

601 
A maiden hath no tongue but thought. 9 — iii. 2. 

* Susceptible. f The Phoenix. 



FEMALE CHARACTERS. 221 

602 

She dwells so securely on the excellency of her 
honour, that the folly of any soul dares not present 
itself; she is too brig-ht to be looked against. 

3— ii. 2. 
603 

She bore a mind that envy could not but call fair. 

4— ii. 1. 
604 

Thy tender-hefted nature* shall not give 

Thee o'er to harshness; her eyes are fierce, but thine 

Do comfort, and not burn. 34 — ii. 4. 

605 
Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave 
My heart into my mouth. 34 — i. 1. 

606 

Her voice was ever soft, 
Gentle and low ; an excellent thing in woman. 

34— v. 3. 
607 

There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple : 

If the ill spirit have so fair a house, 

Good things will strive to dwell with it. 1 — i. 2. 

608 

O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame, 

To pay this debt of love but to a brother, 

How will she love when the rich golden shaft 

Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else 

That live in her ! when liver, brain, and heart, f 

These sovereign thrones, are all supplied and fill'd 

(Her sweet perfections) with one self king ! 

4— i. 1. 
609 

She'll not be hit 
With Cupid's arrow, she hath Dian's wit ; 

* A bosom agitated by tender passions. 

t Liver, brain, and heart, are admitted in poetry as the residence 
of passions, judgment, and sentiment ; these are what Shakspeare 
calls her sweet perfections. 

19* 






222 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

And, in strong proof of chastity well-arm'd, 

From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd. 

She will not stay the siege of loving terms, 

Nor bide th' encounter of assailing eyes, 

Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold. 35 — i. 1. 



FEMALE CHARACTERS. 

SUBORDINATE. 

610 

Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes, 
Misprising* what they look on; and her wit 
Values itself so highly, that to her 
All matter else seems weak. 6 — iii. 1. 

611 

Make the doorsf upon a woman's wit, and it will 
out at the casement ; shut that, and, 'twill out at the 
keyhole ; stop that, 'twill fly with the smoke out at 
the chimney. 10 — iv. 1. 

612 

You have a nimble wit; I think it was made of 
Atalanta's heels. 10 — iii. 2. 

613 

O, she will sing the savageness out of a bear ! Of so 
high and plenteous wit and invention ! 37 — iv. 1. 

614 

Mistress, know yourself; down on your knees, 
And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love : 
For I must tell you friendly in your ear, 
Sell when you can ; you are not for all markets. 

10— iii. 5. 

* Undervaluing. t Bar the doors. 



FEMALE CHARACTERS. 223 

615 

O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd : 
She was a vixen when she went to school ; 
And, though she be but little, she is fierce. 

7— iii. 2. 
616 

'Tis such fools as you, 
That make the world full of ill-fa vour'd children : 
'Tis not her glass, but you, that flatters her ; 
And out of you she sees herself more proper, 
Than any of her lineaments can show her. 

10— iii. 5. 
617 

She is too disdainful ; 
I know, her spirits are as coy and wild 
As haggards of the rock.* 6 — iii. 1. 

618 

Your face hath got five hundred pounds a-year ; 
Yet sell your face for five-pence, and tis dear. 

16— i. 1. 
619 

She creeps ; 
Her motion and her stationf are as one ; 
She shows a body rather than a life ; 
A statue, than a breather. 30 — iii. 3. 

620 

I never yet saw man, 
How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featured, 
But she would spell him backward ; if fair-faced, 
She'd swear, the gentleman should be her sister ; 
If black, why nature, drawing of an antic, 
Made a foul blot; if tall, a lance ill-headed; 
If low, an agate very vilely cut : 
If speaking, why, a vane blown with all winds ; 
If silent, why a block, moved with none. 
So turns she every man the wrong side out ; 
And never gives to truth and virtue that, 
Which simpleness and merit purchaseth. 6 — iii. 1. 

* A specie3 of hawk. t Standing. 



224 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

621 

I would, my horse had the speed of your tongue ; 
and so good a continuer. 6 — i. 1. 

622 

You would be another Penelope : yet, they say, all 
the yarn she spun, in Ulysses' absence, did but fill 
Ithaca full of moths. 28 — i. 3. 

623 

Constant you are ; 
But yet a woman : and for secrecy, 
No lady closer ; for I well believe, 
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know ; 
And so far will I trust thee. 18 — ii. 3. 

624 

If they were but a week married, they would talk 
themselves mad. 6 — ii. 1. 

625 

I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books. . . . 
No : an he were, I would burn my study. 6 — i. 1. 

626 

She cannot love, 
Nor take no shape nor project of affection, 
She is so self- endear 'd. 6 — iii. 1. 

627 

O thou public commoner! 
I should make very forges of my cheeks, 
That would to cinders burn up modesty, 
Did I but speak thy deeds. 37 — iv. 2. 

628 

She is peevish, sullen, froward, 
Proud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty ; 
Neither regarding that she is my child, 
Nor fearing me as if I were her father. 2 — iii. 1. 

629 

She is too low for a high praise, too brown for a 
fair praise, and too little for a great praise : only this 



FEMALE CHARACTERS. 2*25 

commendation I can afford her ; that were she other 
than she is, she were unhandsome. 6 — i. 1. 

630 

Let them anatomize her ; see what breeds about 
her heart : Is there any cause in nature, that makes 
these hard hearts 1 34 — iii. 6. 

631 

Lady, you have a merry heart. . . . Yea, I thank 
it, poor fool, it keeps on the windy side of care. 

6— ii. 1. 
632 

O, 

Dissembling courtesy ! How fine this tyrant, 

Can tickle where she wounds! 31 — i. 2. 

633 

Her beauty and her brain go not together:* She's 
a good sign, but I have seen small reflection of her 
wit.f 31— i. 3. 

634 

Would I (being but a moonish youth) grieve, be 
effeminate, changeable, longing, and liking; proud, 
fantastical, apish, shallow, inconstant, full of tea*, 
full of smiles, for every passion something, and for 
no passion truly any thing (as boys and women are 
the most part cattle of this colour) ; would now like 
him, now loath him ; then entertain him, then for- 
swear him ; now weep for him, then spit at him. 

10— iii. 2. 
635 

Come, an it were not for thy humours, there is not 
a better wench in England. 19 — ii. 1. 

• 636 

Whose warp'd looks proclaim 
What store her heart is made of. 34 — iii. 6. 

* Her beauty and sense are not equal. 

t Anciently almost every sign had a motto, or some attempt at 
witticism, underneath it. 



226 DELINEATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

637 

She puts her tongue a little in her heart, 

And chides with thinking. 37 — ii. 1. 

638 

Who might be your mother, 
That you insult, exult, and all at once, 
Over the wretched] What though you have more 

beauty, 
(As, by my faith, I see no more in you 
Than without candle may go dark to bed,) 



10— iii. 5. 



Must you be therefore proud and pitiless 

639 

O, how hast thou with jealousy infected 

The sweetness of affiance ! 20 — ii. 2. 

640 

You are pictures out of doors, 
Bells in your parlours, wild cats in your kitchens, 
Saints in your injuries, devils being offended. 

37— ii. 1. 
641 

What, my dear lady Disdain ! are you yet living? 
• 6— i. 1. 

642 

Thou wilt never get thee a husband, if thou be so 
shrewd with thy tongue. 6 — ii. 1. 

643 

She speaks poniards, and every word stabs : if her 
breath were as terrible as her terminations, there 
were no living near her, she would infect to the north 
star. . . . She would have made Hercules 
have turned spit; yea, and have cleft his club, to 
make the fire too. 6 — ii. 1. 

644 
The tongues of mocking wenches are as keen 
As is the razor's edge invisible, 
Cutting a smaller hair than may be seen ; 
Above the sense of sense : so sensible 



FEMALE CHARACTERS. 227 

Seemeth their conference ; their conceits have wings, 
Fleeter than arrows, bullets, wind, thought, swifter 
things. 8 — v. 2. 

645 

God hath given you one face, and you make your- 
selves another : you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and 
nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness 
your ignorance. 36 — iii. 1. 

646 
1 saw her hand ; she has a leathern hand, 
A freestone-colour'd hand ; I verily did think, 
That her old gloves were on ; but 'twas her hands ; 
She has a huswife's hand. 10 — iv. 3. 



PAINTINGS 



OF 



NATURE AND THE PASSIONS 



"The most exquisite poetical conceptions, images, and de- 
scriptions, are given with such brevity, and introduced 
with such skill, as merely to adorn, without loading, the 
sense they accompany." 

Edinburgh Review. 

" He gives a living picture of all the most minute and secret 
artifices by which a feeling steals into our souls, of all the 
imperceptible advantages which it there gains, of all the 
stratagems by which every other passion is made sub- 
servient to it, till it becomes the sole tyrant of our de- 
sires and our aversions." 

Lessing. 



PAINTINGS 

OF 

NATURE AND THE PASSIONS. 



How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank ! 
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music 
Creep in our ears ; soft stillness, and the night, 
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 

Look, how the floor of heaven 
Is thick inlaid with patines* of bright gold ; 
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st, 
But in his motion like an angel sings, 
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins : 
Such harmony is in immortal souls ;| 
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. 9 — v. 1. 

2 

The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye ; 
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower. 

T — iii. 1. 
3 

Phoebe doth behold 
Her silver visage in the watery glass, 
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass. 

7— i. 1. 
4 

The moon, like to a silver bow, 

New bent in heaven. 7 — i. 1. 

* A small flat dish, used in the administration of the Eucharist. 

t" Touching musical harmony, whether by instrument or by 
voice, it being but of high and low sounds in a due proportionable 
disposition, such notwithstanding is the force thereof, and so pleas- 
ing effects it hath in the very part of man which is most divine, 
that some have been thereby induced to think that the soul itself by 
nature is, or hath in it, harmony." — Hooker^ Ecclesiastical Poli- 
ty, B . v. 



232 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

5 

The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head 

Spits in the face of heaven. 9 — ii. 7. 

6 
Peace, hoa, the moon sleeps with Endymion,* 
And would not be awaked ! 9 — v. 1. 

7 
Yon gray is not the morning's eye, 
'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow.| 

35— iii. 5. 
8 

The sun with one eye vieweth all the world. 

21— i. 4. 
9 

How bloodily the sun begins to peer 
Above yon buskyj hill ! the day looks pale 
At his distemperature. 

The southern wind 
Doth play the trumpet to his purposes ;§ 
And, by his hollow whistling in the leaves, 
Foretells a tempest, and a blustering day. 18 — v. 1. 

10 

The glorious sun, 
Stays in his course, and plays the alchemist ; 
Turning, with splendour of his precious eye, 
The meager cloddy earth to glittering gold. 

16— iii. 1. 

11 

As whence the sun 'gins his reflection 
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break ; 
So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to come, 
Discomfort|| swells. 15 — i. 1. 

12 

The weary sun hath made a golden set, 

* A shepherd of Caria, who, for insolently soliciting Juno, was 
condemned to a sleep of thirty years; Luna visited him by night 
in a cave of Mount Latmus. 

t Reflection of the moon. % Woody. 

§ That is, to the sun's, to which the sun portends by his unusual 
appearance. ||The opposite to comfort. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 233 

And by the bright track of his fiery car, 

Gives token of a goodly day to-morrow. 24 — v. 3. 

13 

The sun hath made his journal greeting to 

The under-generation.* 5 — iv. 3. 

14 

See how the morning opes her golden gates, 
And takes her farewell of the glorious sun If 
How well resembles it the prime of youth, 
Trimrn'd like a younker, prancing to his love ! 

23— ii. 1. 
15 

Look, love, what envious streaks 
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east : 
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day 
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. 

35— iii. 5. 

16 

Look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, 
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill. 

36— i. 1. 

17 

The morning steals upon the night, 

Melting the darkness. 1 — v. 1. 

18 

Look, the unfolding 6tar calls up the shepherd. 

5 — iv. 2. 

19 
Lo, here the gentle lark, weary of rest, 
From his moist cabinet mounts up on high, 
And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast 
The sun ariseth in his majesty ; 
Who doth the world so gloriously behold, 
That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish'd gold. 

Poems. 

* Antipodes. 

t Aurora takes for a time her farewell of the sun, when she dis- 
misses him to his diurnal course. 

20* 



234 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

20 

The wolves have prey'd : and look, the gentle day, 
Before the wheels of Phoebus, round about 
Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray.* 

6— v. 3. 

21 

Night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, 

And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger. 7 — iii. 2. 



This morning, like the spirit of a youth 
That means to be of note, begins betimes. 

30— iv. 4. 
23 

The glowworm shows the matin to be near, 

And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire. 36 — i. 5. 

24 

The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat 
Awake the god of day. 36 — i. 1. 

25 

The day begins to break, and night is fled, 
Whose pitchy mantle over-veil'd the earth. 

21— ii. 2. 
26 

Hark ! hark ! the lark at heaven's gate sings, 

And Phoebus 'gins arise, 
His steeds to water at. those springs 

On chaliced flowers that lies ; 
And winking Mary-buds begin 

To ope their golden eyes. 31 — ii. 3. 

27 

Look, how the sun begins to set ; 
How ugly night comes breathing at his heels : 
Even with the vail and dark'ning of the sun, 
To close the day up, life is done. 26 — v. 9. 

* Night — dragon wing. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 235 

28 

How still the evening is, 
As hush'd on purpose to grace harmony ! 6 — ii. 3. 

29 

Light thickens ; and the crow 
Makes wing to the rooky wood. 15— iii. 2. 

30 
The silent hours steal on, 
And flaky darkness breaks within the east. 

24—v. 3. 
31 

The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day : 

Now spurs the lated traveller apace, 

To gain the timely inn. 15 — iii. 3. 

32 

This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick, 

It looks a little paler : 'tis a day, 

Such as ihe day is, when the sun is hid. 9 — v. 1. 

33 

Good things of day begin to droop and drowse ; 
Whiles night's black agents to their prey do rouse. 

15— iii. 2. 

34 

By the clock 'tis day, 
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp : 
Is it night's predominance, or the day's shame, 
That darkness does the face of earth intomb, 
When living light should kiss it 1 15 — ii. 4. 

35 

Look, the world's comforter, with weary gait, 
His day's hot task hath ended in the west : 
The owl, night's herald, shrieks, 'tis very late ; 
The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest ; 
And coal-black clouds that shadow heaven's light, 
Do summon us to part, and bid good night. 

Poems. 



236 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

36 
Swift, swift, you dragons of the night ! — that dawning 
May bare the raven's eye. 31 — ii. 2. 

37 

The gaudy, babbling, and remorseful day 

Is crept into the bosom of the sea ; 

And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades, 

That drag the tragic melancholy night ; 

Who with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings, 

Clip dead men's graves, and from their misty jaws 

Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air. 

22— iv. 1. 
38 

Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, 

Towards Phcebus' mansion ; such a wagoner 

As Phaeton would whip you to the west, 

And bring in cloudy night immediately. 35 — iii. 2. 

39 

Sable Night, mother of Dread and Fear, 

Upon the world dim darkness doth display, 

And in her vaulty prison stows the day. Poems. 

40 

The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth. 

26— v. 9. 
41 

Now the hungry lion roars, 

And the wolf behowls the moon ; 
Whilst the heavy ploughman snores, 

All with weary task fordone. 
Now the wasted brands do glow, 

Whilst the scritch-owl, scritching loud, 
Puts the wretch, that lies in woe, 

In remembrance of a shroud. 
Now it is the time of night, 

That the graves, all gaping wide, 
Every one lets forth his sprite, 

In the church-way paths to glide : 
And we fairies, that do run 

By the triple Hecate's team, 
From the presence of the sun, 

Following darkness like a dream. 7 — v. 2. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 237 

42 

The crickets sing, and man's o'er-labour'd sense 
Repairs itself by rest. 31 — ii. 2. 

43 

Civil night, 
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black. 35 — iii. 2. 

44 

The bat hath flown 

His cloister'd flight ; 

The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums, 
Hath rung night's yawning peal. 15 — iii. 2. 

45 

That when the searching eye of heaven is hid 

Behind the globe, and lights the lower world, 

Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen, 

In murders, and in outrage, bloody here ; 

But when, from under this terrestrial ball, 

He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines, 

And darts his light through every guilty hole, 

Then murders, treasons, and detested sins, 

The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs, 

Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves. 

17— iii. 2. 
46 

Jove's lightnings, the precursors 
O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary 
And sight-out-running were not : The fire and cracks 
Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune 
Seem'd to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, 
Yea, his dread trident shake. 1 — i. 2. 

47 

We often see against some storm, 
A silence in the heavens, the rack* stand still, 
The bold winds speechless, and the orb below 
As hush as death : anon the dreadful thunder 
Doth rend the region. 36 — ii. 2. 

* Light clouds. 



238 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

48 

The cross blue lightning seem'd to open 
The breast of heaven. 29 — i. 3. 

49 

Things, that love night, 
Love not such nights as these : the wrathful skies 
Gallow* the very wanderers of the dark, 
And make them keep their caves : Since I was man, 
Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, 
Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never 
Remember to have heard : man's nature cannot carry 
The affliction, nor the fear. 34 — iii. 2. 

50 

Sometime we see a cloud that's dragonish ; 

A vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion, 

A tower'd citadel, a pendant rock, 

A forked mountain, or blue promontory 

With trees upon't that nod unto the world, 

And mock our eyes with air : Thou hast seen these 

signs ; 
They are black vesper's pageants. 
That, which is now a horse, even with a thought, 
The rackf dislimns : and makes it indistinct, 
As water is in water. 
My good knave, Eros, now thy captain is 
Even such a body : here I am Antony ; 
Yet cannot hold this visible shape. 30 — iv. 12. 

51 

Yon gray lines, 
That fret the clouds, are messengers of day. 

29— ii. 1. 
52 

Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks ! rage ! blow ! 

You cataracts, and hurricanoes, spout 

Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the 

cocks ! 
You sulphurous and thought-executing]: fires, 
Vaunt couriers^ to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, 

* Scare, or frighten. f Fleeting clouds. 

X Quick as thought. § Avant couriers. French. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 239 

And thou, all-shaking thunder, 

Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world ! 

Carck nature's moulds, all germens spill at once, 

That make ingrateful man ! 34 — iii. 2. 

53 

Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land ; 

A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements : 

If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea, 

What ribs of oak, when mountains melt* on them, 

Can hold the mortise ) 

Do but stand upon the foaming shore, 

The chilling billow seems to pelt the clouds ; 

The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous 

main, 
Seems to cast water on the burning bear,f 
And quench the guards of th' ever-fixed pole : 
I never did like molestation view 
On the enchafed flood. 37 — ii. 1. 

54 

The yesty waves 
Confound and swallow navigation up. 15 — iv. 1. 

55 

The moon shines bright : — In such a night as this, 
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees, 
And they did make no noise ; in such a night, 
Troilus, methinks, mounted the Trojan walls, 
And sigh'd his soul towards the Grecian tents, 
Where Cressid lay that night. 

In such a night, 
Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew ; 
And saw the lion's shadow ere himself, 
And ran dismay'd away. 

In such a night, 
Stood Dido with a willow in her hand 
Upon the wild sea-banks, and waved her love 
To come again to Carthage. 

In such a night, 
Medea gather'd the enchanted herbs, 
That did renew old iEson. 9— v. 1. 

* Meet would probably be better. 

t The constellation near the polar star. 



240 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

56 

Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth 

In strange eruptions: oft the teeming earth 

Is with a kind of colic pinch'd and vex'd 

By the imprisoning of unruly wind 

Within her womb ; which for enlargement striving, 

Shakes the old beldame earth, and topples down 

Steeples and moss-grown towers. 18 — iii. 1. 

57 

A red morn, that ever yet betoken'd 
Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field, 
Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds, 
Gust and foul flaws to herd men and to herds. 

Poems. 
58 

I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds 
Have rived the knotty oaks ; and I have seen 
The ambitious ocean swell, and rage and foam, 
To be exalted with the threat'ning clouds. 

29— i. 3: 

59 

The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd, 

And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven; 

The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth, 

And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change; 

Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and* leap, — 

The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy, 

The other, to enjoy by rage and war. 17 — ii. 4. 

60 
Well-apparell'd April on the heel 
Of limping Winter treads. 35 — i. 2. 

61 

Flora 
Peering in April's front. 13 — iv. 3. 

62 

The violets now 
That strew the green lap of the new-come spring. 

17— v. 2. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 241 

63 

An envious sneaping* frost, 
That bites the first-born infants of the spring. 

8-i. 1. 
64 

The pleached bower, 
Where honeysuckles, ripen'd by the sun, 
Forbid the sun to enter ; like favourites, 
Made proud by princes, that advance their pride 
Against that power that bred it. 6 — iii. 1. 

65 

That same dew, which sometime on the buds 
Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls, 
Stood now within the pretty flowrets' eyes,f 
Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail. 

7— iv. 1. 
66 

This guest of summer, 
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, 
By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath 
Smells wooingly here : no jutty frieze, buttress, 
Nor coigne of vantage,! but this bird hath made 
His pendant bed, and procreant cradle : Where they 
Most breed and haunt, I have observed, the air 
Is delicate. 15 — i. 6. 

67 

The year growing ancient, — 
Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth 
Of trembling winter. 13 — iv. 3. 

68 
This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air 
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 
Unto our gentle senses. 15 — i. 6. 

69 
Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricocks, 
Which, like unruly children, make the sire 

* Nipping. 

| The eye of a flower is the technical term for its centre. 

X Convenient corner. 

21 



242 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight : 
Give some supportance to the bending twigs. — 
Go thou, and, like an executioner, 
Cut off the heads of too-fast-growing sprays, 
That look too lofty in the commonwealth : 
All must be even in our government. — 
You thus employ^, I will go root away 
The noisome weeds, that without profit suck 
The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers. 

. We at time of year 
Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees ; 
Lest, being over-proucl with sap and blood, 
With too much riches it confound itself. 

. All superfluous branches 
We lop away, that bearing boughs may live. 

17 — iii. 4. 

70 

Behold the earth hath roots ; 
Within this mile break forth a hundred springs : 
The oaks bear mast, the briars scarlet hips ; 
The bounteous housewife, nature, on each bush 
Lays her full mess before you. 27 — iv. 3. 

71 

I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, 
Where ox-lips* and the nodding violet grows ; 
Quite over-canopied with lushf woodbine, 
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine : 
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night, 
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight ; 
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, 
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in. 7 — ii. 2. 

72 

Here's flowers for you : 
Hot lavender, mint, savory, marjoram ; 
The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, 
And with him rises weeping ; these are flowers 
Of middle summer, and, I think, they are given 
To men of middle age. 13 — iv. 3. 

* The greater cowslip. t Vigorous. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 243 

73 

O Proserpina, 
For the flowers now, that, frighted, thou let'st fall 
From Dis's* wagon ! daffodils, 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty ; violets, dim, 
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 
Or Cytherea's breath ; pale primroses, 
That die unmarried, ere they can behold 
Bright Phoebus in his strength ; 

bold oxlips, and 
The crown-imperial ; lilies of all kinds, 
The flower-de-luce being one ! O, these I lack, 
To make you garlands of. 13 — iv. 3. 

74 

Where the bee sucks, there suck I; 

In a cowslip's bell I lie : 

There I couch when owls do cry, 

On the bat's back I do fly, 

After summer, merrily : 

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now, 

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. 

1— v. 1. 

75 

I am that merry wanderer of the night. 

I jest to Oberon, and make him smile, 

When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, 

Neighing in likeness of a filly foal : 

And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl, 

In very likeness of a roasted crab ; 

And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob, 

And on her wither'd dew-lap pour the ale. 

The wisest aunt,f telling the saddest tale, 

Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me ; 

Then slip I from her seat, down topples she, 

And tailor cries, and falls into a cough ; 

And then the whole quire hold their hips and loffe; 

And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear, 

A merrier hour was never wasted there. 7 — ii. 1. 

* Pluto. f An innocent old woman. 



244 PAINTINGS Oy NATURE 

76 

When icicles hang by the wall, 

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, 
And Tom bears logs into the hall, 

And milk comes frozen home in pail, 
When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, 
Then nightly sings the staring owl, 
Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, 
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. 

When all aloud the wind doth blow, 
And coughing drowns the parson's saw, 

And birds sit brooding in the snow, 
And Marian's nose looks red and raw ; 

When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, 

Then nightly sings the staring owl, 

Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, 

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. 8 — v. 2. 

77 

Over hill, over dale, 
Thorough bush, thorough briar, 

Over park, over pale, 
Thorough flood, thorough fire, 

I do wander every where, 

Swifter than the moones sphere ; 

And I serve the fairy queen, 

To dew her orbs* upon the green : 

The cowslips tall her pensioners be ; 

In their gold coats spots you see ; 

Those be rubies, fairy favours, 

In those freckles live their savours : 
I must go seek some dew-drops here, 
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. 7 — ii. 1. 

78 

Orpheus with his lute made trees, 
And the mountain-tops, that freeze, 
Bow themselves, when he did sing : 

* Circles. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 245 

To his music, plants, and flowers, 
Ever sprung- ; as sun, and showers, 
There had been a lasting spring. 

Every thino; that heard him play, 
Even the billows of the sea, 

Hung their heads, and then lay by. 
In sweet music is such art ; 
Killing care, and grief of heart, 

Fall asleep, or, hearing die. 25 — iii. 1. 

79 
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction 
Robs the vast sea : the moon's an arrant thief, 
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun : 
The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves 
The moon into salt tears : the earth's a thief, 
That feeds and breeds by a composture* stolen 
From general excrement: each thing's a thief; 
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power 
Have uncheck'd theft, 27 — iv. 3. 

80 
The snail, whose tender horns being hit, 
Shrinks backward in his shelly cave with pain, 
And there, all smother'd up in shade doth sit, 
Long after fearing to creep forth again. Poems. 

81 
The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish 
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, 
And greedily devour the treacherous bait. 6 — iii. 1. 

82 

The Pontic sea, 
Whose icy current, and compulsive course 
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on 
To the Propontic, and the Hellespont. 37 — iii. 3. 

83 

Time's ruin, beauty's wreck, and grim care's reign ; 
Her cheeks with chaps and wrinkles were disguised ; 
Of what she was, no semblance did remain : 
Her blue blood changed to black in every vein, 

* Compost, manure. 

21* 



246 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

Wanting the spring- that those shrunk pipes had fed, 
Show'd life imprison'd in a body dead. 

Poems. 
84 

These gray locks, the pursuivants of death, 

Nestor-like aged, in an age of care ; 

These eyes, — like lamps, whose wasting oil is spent, 

Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent : 

Weak shoulders overborne with burd'ning grief; 

And pithless arms, like to a wither'd vine 

That droops his sapless branches to the ground : — 

Yet are these feet, whose strengthless stay is numb, 

Unable to support this lump of clay, — 

Swift-winged with desire to get a grave. 21 — ii. 5. 

85 

With fairest flowers, 
Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, 
I'll sweeten thy sad grave : Thou shalt not lack 
The flower, that's like thy face, pale primrose; nor 
The azured hare-bell, like thy veins ; no, nor 
The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander, 
Out-sweeten'd not thy breath : the ruddock* would, 
With charitable bill (O bill, sore-shaming 
Those rich-left heirs, that let their fathers lie 
Without a monument !) bring thee all this ; 
Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none, 
To winter-groundf thy corse. 31 — iv. 2. 

86 

Fear no more the heat o' the sun, 

Nor the furious winter's rages ; 

Thou thy worldly task hast done, 

Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages : 
Golden lads and girls all must, 
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust. 

Fear no more the frown o' the great, 
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke ; 
Care no more to clothe, and eat ; 
To thee the reed is as the oak : 

* The red -breast. 

t Probably a corrupt leading for wither round thy corse. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 247 

The sceptre, learning, physic, must 
All follow this, and come to dust. 

Fear no more the light'ning flash, 

Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone ; 

Fear not slander, censure* rash : 

Thou hast finish'd joy and moan : 
All lovers young-, all lovers must 
Consign t to thee, and come to dust. 31 — iv. 2. 

87 
I will rob Tellusj of her weeds, 
To strew thy green with flowers ; the yellows, blues, 
The purple violets, and marigolds, 
Shall, as a chaplet, hang upon thy grave, 
While summer days do last. 33 — iv. 1. 



How use doth breed a habit in a man ! 

This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, 

I better brook than flourishing peopled towns ; 

Here can I sit alone, unseen of any, 

And, to the nightingale's complaining notes, 

Tune my distresses, and record my woes. 

O thou that dost inhabit in my breast, 

Leave not the mansion so long tenantless ; 

Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall, 

And leave no memory of what it was ! 2 — v. 4. 

89 

How fearful 
And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low ! 
The crows, and choughs,^ that wing the midway air, 
Show scarce so gross as beetles : half way down, 
Hangs one that gathers samphire :|| dreadful trade! 
Methinks, he seems no bigger than his head : 
The fishermen, that walk upon the beach, 
Appear like mice : and yon' tall anchoring bark, 
Diminish'd to her cock ;^T her cock, a buoy 
Almost too small for sight : The murmuring surge, 
That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, 

♦Judgment. fSeal the same contract. 

I Earth. § Daws. 

|| A vegetable gathered for pickling. TT Her cock-boat. 



248 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

Cannot be heard so high : I'll look no more ; 

Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 

Topple* down headlong. 34 — iv. 6. 

90 
The dreadful summit of the cliff, 
That beetles-) - o'er his base into the sea, 
The very place puts toys:}; of desperation, 
Without more motive, into every brain, 
That looks so many fathoms to the sea, 
And hears it roar beneath. 36 — i. 4. 

91 

From the dread summit of this chalky bourn :§ 
Look up a-height ; the shrill-gorged || lark so far 
Cannot be seen or heard. 34 — iv. 6. 

92 

These things seem small and undistinguishable, 
Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. 7 — iv. 1. 

93 

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet 
Than that of painted pomp'? Are not these woods 
More free from peril than the envious court 1 
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, 
The season's difference ; as, the icy fang, 
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind ; 
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body, 
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile, and say, — 
This is no flattery : these are counsellors, 
That feelingly persuade me what I am. 

* * * * * * 

And this our life, exempt from public haunt, 

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. 

10— ii. 1. 
94 

Pacing through the forest, 
Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy, 
Lo, what befel ! he threw his eye aside, 

* Tumble. t Hangs. J Whims. 

§ i. e. This chalky boundary of England. \\ Shrill-throated. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 249 

And, mark, what object did present itself! 

Under an oak, whose boughs were moss'd with age, 

And high top bald with dry antiquity, 

A wretched ragged man, o'ergrown with hair, 

Lay sleeping on his back : about his neck 

A green and gilded snake had wreath'd itself, 

Who with her head, nimble in threats, approach'd 

The opening of his mouth ; but suddenly 

Seeing Orlando, it unlink'd itself, 

And with indented glides did slip away 

Into a bush : under which bush's shade 

A lioness, with udders all drawn dry, 

Lay couching, head on ground, with cat-like watch, 

When that the sleeping man should stir; for 'tis 

The royal disposition of that beast, 

To prey on nothing, that doth seem as dead : 

This seen, Orlando did approach the man, 

And found it was his brother. 10 — iv. 3. 

95 
Natural graces, that extinguish art. 21 — v. 3. 

96 

O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright ! 
Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night 
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's* ear : 
Beauty too rich tor use, for earth too dear ! 



35— i. 5. 



97 



Her stature, as wand-like straight ; 

As silver-voiced : her eyes as jewel-like, 

And cased as richly : in pace another Juno ; 

Who starves the ears she feeds, and makes them 

hungry, 
The more she gives them speech. 33 — v. 1. 

98 

Her lily hand her rosy cheek lies under, 
Cozening the pillow of a lawful kiss ; 

****** 

* An Ethiopian, a black. 



250 PAINTINGS OF NATTRE 

Without the bed her other fair hand was, 

On the green coverlet : whose perfect white 

Show'd like an April daisy on the grass, 

With pearly sweat, resembling dew of night. 

Her eyes like marigolds, had sheath'd their light; 

And, canopied in darkness, sweetly lay, 

Till they might open to adorn the day. Poems. 

99 

Fair ladies, mask'd, are roses in their bud : 
Dismask'd, their damask sweet commixture shown, 
Are angels vailing clouds, or roses blown. 8 — v. "2. 

100 

Her sunny locks 
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece. 9 — i. 1. 

101 

That whiter skin of hers than snow, 
And smooth as monumental alabaster. 37 — v. 2. 

102 

You seem to me as Dian in her orb ; 

As chaste as is the bud, ere it be blown. 6 — iv. 1. 

103 

She looks as clear 
As morning roses newly wash'd with dew. 12 — ii. 1. 

104 

Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good, 
A shining gloss, that fadeth suddenly ; 
A flower that dies, when first it 'gins to bud ; 
A brittle glass, that's broken presently ; 
A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, 
Lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour. 

And as good lost, is seld or never found, 

As faded gloss no rubbing will refresh, 

As flowers dead, lie wither'd on the ground, 

As broken glass no cement can redress, 

So beauty blemish'd once, for ever's lost, 

In spite of physic, painting, pain, and cost. Poems. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 251 

105 
The fringed curtains of thine eye.. 1 — i. 2. 

106 

I saw sweet beauty in her face, 
Such a&the daughter* of Agenor had, 
That made great Jove to humble him to her hand,. 
When with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan strand. 

• I saw her coral lips to move, 
And with her breath she did perfume the air : 
Sacred and sweet, was all I saw in her. 12 — i. 1. 

107 

I have not seen 
So likely an ambassador of love : 
A day in April never came so sweet, 
To show how costly summer was at hand, 
As this fore-spurrer comes before his lord. 9 — ii. £L 

108 

If she be made of white and red, 

Her faults will ne'er be known ; 
For blushing cheeks by faults are bred, 

And fears by pale-white shown : 
Then, if she fear, or be to blame, 

By this you shall not know, 
For still her cheeks possess the same, 

Which native she doth owe.j; 8 — i. %. 

109 

She never told her love* 
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 
Feed on her damask cheek : she pined in thought ; 
And, with a green and yellow melancholy, 
She sat (like Patience on a monument) 
Smiling at grief. 4 — ii. 4, 

110 

Thine eye would emulate the diamond. 3 — iii. & 

* Europa. t Of which, she is naturally possessed- 



252 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

111 

My beauty, though but mean, 
Needs not the painted flourish of your praise ; 
Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye, 
Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's* tongues. 

8— ii. 1. 

112 

Thou tell'st me, there is murder in mine eye: 
'Tis pretty, sure, and very probable, 
That eyes, — that are the frail 'st and softest things, 
Who shut their coward gates on atomies, — 
Should be call'd tyrants, butchers, murderers ! 

10— iii. 5. 
113 

Move these eyes 1 
Or whether, riding on the balls of mine, 
Seem they in motion 1 Here are sever'd lips, 
Parted with sugar breath ; so sweet a bar 
Should sunder such sweet friends : Here in her hairs 
The painter plays the spider ; and hath woven 
A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men, 
Faster than gnats in cobwebs : But her eyes, — 
How could he see to do them 1 having made one, 
Methinks it should have power to steal both his, 
And leave itself unfurnish'd. 9 — iii. 2. 

114 

Fairest, lady — 
What ! are men mad 1 hath nature given them eyes 
To see this vaulted arch, and the rich crop 
Of sea and land, which can distinguish 'twixt 
The fiery orbs above, and the twinn'd stonesf 
Upon the number'd beach 1 and can we not 
Partition make with spectacles so precious 
Twixt fair and foul ? 31— i. 7. 

115 

He hath achieved a maid, 
That paragons description, and wild fame ; 

* Chapman, is market-man. 

t The pebbles on the sea shore are so much of the same size and 
shape, that twinn'd may mean as like as twins. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 253 

One, that excels the quirks of blazoning pens, 

And in the essential vesture of creation, 

Does bear all excellency.* 37 — ii. I. 

116 

The noble sister of Publicola, 
The moon of Rome ; chaste as the icicle, 
That's curded by the frost from purest snow, 
And hangs on Dian's temple. 28 — v. 31 

117 

I take thy hand ; this hand, 
As soft as dove's down, and as white as it ; 
Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd snow, 
That's boltedt by the northern blasts twice o'er. 

13— iv. 3. 
118 
*Tis beauty truly blent,}: whose red and white 
Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on : 
Lady, you are the cruel'st she alive, 
If you will lead these graces to the grave, 
And leave the world no copy. 4 — i. 5. 

119 

O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, 
Methought she purged the air of pestilence ; 
That instant was I turn'd into a hart ; 
And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, 
E'er since pursue me. 4 — i. I* 

120 

Thou dost look 
Like Patience, gazing on kings' graves, and smiling 
Extremity out of act.^ 33 — v. 1. 

*" Does bear all excellency." This is the reading of the quarto. 
In the folio it is " Do's tyre the ingenieur." Mr. Steevens remarks 
that " the reading of the quarto is so flat and unpoetical, when com- 
pared with that sense which seems meant to have been given in the 
folio, that I heartily wish some emendation could be hit on, which 
might entitle it to a place in the text." The following is suggested, 
Attires the engineer, that is, adorns thz general. " The woman is the 
glory of the man." — 1 Cor. xi. 7. " A virtuous woman is a crown to 
her husband." — Prov. xii. 4. Achilles is called " a rare engineer" 

t The sieve used to separate flour from bran is called a bolting 
cloth. % Blended, mixed together. 

§ By her beauty and patient meekness disarming Calamity, and 
preventing her from using her uplifted sword. Extremity, for the 
utmost of human suffering. 

22 



254 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

121 

What's the matter, 
That this distemper'd messenger of wet, 
The many-colour'd Iris rounds thine eye 1* 



11— i. 3. 



122 

If two gods should play some heavenly match, 
And on the wager lay two earthly women, 
And Portia one, there must be something else 
Pawn'd with the other ; for the poor rude world 
Hath not her fellow. 9 — iii. 5. 

123 

O, how ripe in show 
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow ! 

7— iii. 2. 
124 

From women's eyes this doctrine I derive : 
They sparkle still the right Promethean fire ; 
They are the books, the arts, the academes, 
That show, contain, and nourish, all the world. 

8— iv. 3. 
125 

Where is any author in the world, 
Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye 1 8 — iv. 3. 

126 

Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness ! 

For thou hast given me in this beauteous face, 

A world of earthly blessings to my soul, 

If sympathy of love unite our thoughts. 22 — i. 1. 

127 

O, what a hell of witchcraft lies 

In the small orb of one particular tear 1 

But with the inundation of the eyes 

What rocky heart to water will not wear 1 

What breast so cold that is not warmed here 1 

O cleft effect ! cold modesty, hot wrath, 

Both fire from hence and chill extincture hath ! 

Poems. 

* There is something exquisitely beautiful in this representation 
of that suffusion of colours which glimmers around the sight when 
the eyelashes are wet with tears. 



AND THE PASSIONS, 255 

128 
When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew. 

What, still in tears ! 
Evermore showering- 1 In one little body 
Thou counterfeit's! a bark, a sea, a wind : 
For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea, 
Do ebb and flow with tears ; the bark thy body is, 
Sailing in this salt flood ; the winds, thy sighs ; 
Who, — raging with thy tears, and they with them, — 
Without a sudden calm, will overset 
Thy tempest-tossed body. 35 — iii. 5. 

129 

See, 
Posthumus anchors upon Imogen ; 
And she, like harmless lightning, throws her eye 
On him, her brothers, me, her master ; hitting 
Each object with a joy. 31 — v. 5. 

130 

Tears, — 'tis the best brine a maiden can season her 
praise in. 11 — i. 1. 

131 

Thy tears are salter than a younger man's, 

And venomous to thine eyes. 28 — iv. 1. 

132 

His eye being big with tears, 
Turning his face, he put his hand behind him,* 
And with affection wondrous sensible 
He wrung Bassanio's hand, and so they parted. 

9— ii. 9. 
133 

Behold the window of my heart, mine eye, 
What humble suit attends thy answer there. 

8— v. 2. 

* So curious an observer of nature was our author, and so mi- 
nutely had he traced the operation of the passions, that many pas- 
sages of his works might furnish hints to painters. In the above 
passage, we have the outline of a beautiful picture. 



256 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

134 

Now and then an ample tear trill'd down 
Her delicate cheek: it seem'd, she was a queen 
Over her passion ; who, most rebel-like, 
Sought to be king o'er her. 

Patience and sorrow strove 
Who should express her goodliest. You have seen 
Sunshine and rain at once : her smiles and tears 
Were like a better day :* Those happy smiles, 
That play'd on her ripe lip, seem'd not to know 
What guests were in her eyes ; which parted thence, 
As pearls from diamonds dropp'd. — In brief, sorrow 
Would be a rarity most beloved, if all 
Could so become it 34 — iv. 3. 

135 

The April's in her eyes : It is love's spring, 

And these the showers to bring it on. 30 — iii. 2. 

136 

My plenteous joys, 
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves 
In drops of sorrow. 15 — i. 4. 

137 

By noting of the lady, I have mark'd 

A thousand blushing apparitions start 

Into her face ; a thousand innocent shames 

In angel whiteness, bear away those blushes ; 

And in her eye there hath appeared a fire, 

To burn the errors, that these princes hold 

Against her maiden truth. 6 — iv. 1. 

138 

There might you have beheld one joy crown an- 
other : so, and in such manner, that, it seem'd, sorrow 
wept to take leave of them ; for their joy waded in 
tears. 13 — v. 2. 

* " A better day." This is adopted by the commentators, and is 
without sense. Like an April day, is suggested as the right read- 
ing, and proved to be so, by the next piece. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 257 

139 

Say, that upon the altar of her beauty 

You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart ; 

Write till your ink be dry ; and with your tears 

Moist it again ; and frame some feeling line, 

That may discover such integrity : 

For Orpheus' lute was strung with poet's sinew ; 

Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones, 

Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans 

Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands. 

2— iii. 2. 
140 

Drawn in the flattering table of her eye ! 

Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow ! 

And quarter'd in her heart. 16 — ii. 2. 

141 

If lusty love should go in quest of beauty, 

Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch ] 

If zealous* love should go in search of virtue, 

Where should he find it purer than in Blanch 1 

If love ambitious sought a match of birth, 

Whose veins hound richer blood than lady Blanch 1 

Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth, 

Is the young Dauphin every way complete : 

If not complete, O say, he is not she : 

And she again wants nothing, to name want, 

If want it be not, that she is not he : 

He is the half part of a blessed man, 

Left to be finished by such a she ; 

And she a fair divided excellence, 

Whose fulness of perfection lies in him. 

O, two such silver currents, when they join, 

Do glorify the banks that bound them in. 

16— ii. 2. 
142 

The Roman dame, 
Within whose face beauty and virtue strived 
Which of them both should underprop her fame, 
When virtue bragg'd, beauty would blush for shame ; 

* Pious. 

22* 



258 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

When beauty boasted blushes, in despite 
Virtue would stain that o'er with silver white. 

But beauty, in that white intituled, 
From Venus' doves doth challenge that fair field ; 
Then virtue claims from beauty beauty's red, 
Which virtue gave the golden age to gild 
Their silver cheeks, and call'd it then their shield ; 
Teaching them thus to use it in the fight, — 
When shame assail'd, the red should fence the white. 

Poems. 
143 

Time, whose million'd accidents 
Creep in 'twixt vows, and change decrees of kings, 
Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents, 
Divert strong minds to the course of altering things. 

Poems. 
144 

When I do count the clock that tells the time, 
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night ; 
When I behold the violet past prime, 
And sable curls, all silver'd o'er with white ; 
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves, 
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, 
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves, 
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard : 
Then of thy beauty do I question make, 
That thou among the wastes of time must go, 
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake, 
And die as fast as they see others grow. 

Poems. 

145 

Dreams ; 
Which are the children of an idle brain, 
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy ; 
Which is as thin of substance as the air ; 
And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes 
Even now the frozen bosom of the north, 
And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence, 
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south. 

35— i. 4. 

146 

The dream's here still : even when I wake, it is 
Without me, as within me ; not imagined, felt. 

31—iv. 2. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 259 

147 

If I may trust the flattering 1 eye of sleep, 

My dreams presage some joyful news at hand ; 

My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne ; 

And, all this day, an unaccustom'd spirit 

Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. 

I dreamt, my lady came and found me dead ; 

(Strange dream ! that gives a dead man leave to 

think) 
And breathed such life with kisses in my lips, 
That I revived, and was an emperor. 
Ah me ! how sweet is love itself possess'd, 
When but love's shadows are so rich in joy ! 

35— v. 1. 
148 
I dream'd, there was an emperor Antony ; 
O, such another sleep, that I might see 
But such another man ! 30 — v. 2. 

149 

A dream, 
Too flattering-sweet to be substantial. 35 — ii. 2. 

150 

The innocent sleep; 
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave* of care, 
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
Chief nourisher in life's feast. 15 — ii. 2. 

151 

'Tis her breathing that 
Perfumes the chamber thus : The flame o' the taper 
Bows toward her ; and would under-peep her lids, 
To see the enclosed lights, now canopied 
Under these windows : White and azure, laced 
With blue of heaven's own tinct.t 

On her left breast 

A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops 

I' the bottom of a cowslip. 31 — ii. 2. 

* Sleave, is unwrought silk. ' Ravell'd sleave of care,' — the brain. 
t «'. e. The white skin laced with blue veins,. 



260 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

152 

Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber: 
Thou hast no figures,* nor no fantasies, 
Which busy care draws in the brains of men ; 
Therefore thou sleep'st so sound. 29 — ii. 1. 

153 

Downy sleep, death's counterfeit. 15 — ii. 3. 

154 

O monstrous beast ! how like a swine he lies ! 
Grim Death ! how foul and loathsome is thine image ! 

12 — Induction, 1. 
155 

To bed, to bed : Sleep kill those pretty eyes, 

And give as soft attachment to thy senses, 

As infants, empty of all thought ! 26 — iv. 2. 

156 

As fast lock'd up in sleep, as guiltless labour 
When it lies starkly f in the traveller's bones. 

5— iv. 2. 
157 

Sleep, gentle sleep, 
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, 
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, 
And steep my senses in forgetfulness 1 
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, 
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, 
And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber ; 
Than in the perfumed chambers of the great, 
Under the canopies of costly state, 
And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody 1 ? 
O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile 
In loathsome beds ; and leav'st the kingly couch, 
A watch-case, or a common 'larum bell ? 
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast 
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains 
In cradle of the rude imperious surge ; 
And in the visitation of the winds, 
Who take the ruffian billows by the top, 

* Shapes created by the imagination. f Stiffly. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 261 

Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them 

With deaf 'ning clamours on the slippery clouds, 

That, with the hurly,* death itself awakes 1 

Canst thou, O partial sleep ! give thy repose 

To the wet sea-boy, in an hour so rude ; 

And, in the calmest and most stillest night, 

With all appliances and means to boot, 

Deny it to a king 1 19 — iii. 1. 

158 

O sleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her ! 

And be her sense but as a monument, 

Thus in a chapel lying ! 31 — ii. 2. 

159 

See the life as lively mock'd, as ever 

Still sleep mock'd death. 13 — v. 3. 

160 
The golden dew of sleep. '24 — iv. 1. 

161 
Our foster-nurse of nature is repose. 34 — iv. 4. 

162 
I wish mine eyes 
Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts : I find, 

They are inclined to do so 

Do not omit the heavy offer of it : 

It seldom visits sorrow ; when it doth, 

It is a comforter. 1 — ii. 1. 

163 

The lion, dying, thrusteth forth his paw, 

And wounds the earth, if nothing else, with rage 

To be o'erpower'd. 17 — v. 1. 

164 

The life of all his blood 
Is touch'd corruptibly ; and his pure brain 
(Which some suppose the soul's frail dwelling-house) 
Doth, by the idle comments that it makes, 
Foretell the ending of mortality. 16 — v. 7. 

* Noise. 



262 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

165 

vanity of sickness ! fierce extremes, 

In their continuance, will not feel themselves. 
Death, having prey'd upon the outward parts, 
Leaves them insensible ; and his siege is now 
Against the mind, the which he pricks and wounds 
With many legions of strange fantasies ; 
Which, in their throng and press to that last hold, 
Confound themselves. 16 — v. 7. 

166 

Thou art come to set mine eye : 
The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burn'd ; 
And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail, 
Are turned to one thread, one little hair : 
My heart hath one poor string to stay it by, 
Which holds but till thy news be uttered : 
And then all this thou seest, is but a clod, 
And module* of confounded royalty. 16— v. 7, 

167 

Mount, mount, my soul ! thy seat is up on high ; 
Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward here to die. 

17— v. 5. 
168 

If I must die, 

1 will encounter darkness as a bride, 

And hug it in mine arms. 5 — iii. 1. 

169 

Like the lily, 
That once was mistress of the field, and flourish'd, 
I'll hang my head and perish. 25 — iii. 1. 

170 

Death, 



Being an ugly monster, 
'Tis strange, he hides him in fresh cups, soft beds, 
Sweet words : or hath more ministers than we 
That draw his knives i' the war. 31 — v. 3. 



* Model. 



AND THE TASSIONS. 263 

171 

Now, boast thee, death ! in thy possession lies 

A lass unparallel'd. — Downy windows, close ; 

And golden Phoebus never be beheld 

Of eyes again so royal ! 30 — v. 2. 

172 

Death lies on her, like an untimely frost 

Upon the sweetest flower of all the field. 35 — iv. 5. 

173 

Have I not hideous death within my view, 
Retaining but a quantity of life ; 
Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax 
Resolveth from his figure 'gainst the fire 1* 
What in the world should make me now deceive, 
Since I must lose the use of all deceit 1 
Why should I then be false ; since it is true, 
That I must die here, and live hence by truth ! 

16— v. 4. 

174 

Nothing in his life 
Became him like the leaving it : he died 
As one that had been studied in his death, 
To throw away the dearest thing he owed, 
As 'twere a careless trifle. 15 — i. 4. 

175 

O, my love ! my wife ! 
Death that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath, 
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty : 
Thou art not conquer'd ; beauty's ensign yet 
Is crimson in thy lips, and in thy cheeks, 
And death's pale flag is not advanced there. — 
Why art thou yet so fair 1 shall I believe 
That unsubstantial death is amorous ; 
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps 
Thee here in dark to be his paramour 1 

35— v. 3. 

* In allusion to the images made by the witches. 



264 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

176 

I have be wept a worthy husband's death, 

And lived by looking on his images. 24 — ii. 2. 

177 

All things, that we ordained festival, 
Turn from their office to black funeral ; 
Our instruments to melancholy bells ; 
Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast ; 
Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change ; 
Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse, 
And all things change them to the contrary. 

35— iv. 5. 
178 

O'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep 
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep. 

7— iii. 2. 

179 

O, now doth death line his dead chaps with steel ; 
The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs ; 
And now he feasts, mouthing the flesh of men, 
In undetermined differences of kings. 16 — ii. 2. 

180 

His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him ; 
For then, and not till then, he felt himself, 
And found the blessedness of being little : 
And, to add greater honours to his age 
Than man could give him, he died, fearing God. 

25— iv. 2. 

181 

Full of repentance, 
Continual meditations, tears, and sorrows, 
He gave his honours to the world again, 
His blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace. 

25— iv. 2. 

182 

Grief softens the mind, 
And makes it fearful and degenerate. 22 — iv. 3. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 265 

183 

The night of sorrow now is turn'd to day : 
Her two blue windows faintly she up-heaveth, 
Like the fair sun, when in his fresh array 
He cheers the morn, and all the world relieveth : 
And as the bright sun glorifies the sky, 
So is her face illumined with her eye. 

Poems. 
184 

She shook 
The holy water from her heavenly eyes, 
And clamour moisten'd : then away she started 
To deal with grief alone. 34 — iv. 3. 

185 
In the glasses of thine eyes 
I see thy grieved heart. 17 — i. 3. 

186 
Men judge by the complexion of the sky 
The state and inclination of the day : 
So may you by my dull and heavy eye, 
My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say. 

17— iii. 2. 
187 

Lo ! here the hopeless merchant of this loss, 

With head declined, and voice damm'd up with woe, 

With sad set eyes and wretched arms across, 

From lips new-waxen pale begins to blow 

The grief away, that stops his answer so; 

But wretched as he is, he strives in vain ; 

What he breathes out, his breath drinks up again. 

As through an arch the violent roaring tide 
Out-runs the eye that doth behold his haste ; 
Yet in the eddie boundeth in his pride 
Back to the strait, that forced him on so fast, 
In rage sent out, recall'd in rage being past : 
Even so his sighs, his sorrows, make a saw, 
To push grief on, and back the same grief draw. 

Poems. 
188 

My particular grief 
Is of so flood-gate and o'erbearing nature, 

23 



266 PAINTINGS OF NATURE. 

That it engluts and swallows other sorrows, 

And it is still itself. 37— i. 3. 

189 

When my heart, 
As wedged with a sigh, would rive* in twain ; 
Lest Hector or my father should perceive me, 
I have (as when the sun doth light a storm) 
Bury'd this sigh in wrinkle of a smile : 
But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness, 
Is like that mirth, fate turns to sudden sadness. 

26— i. 1. 

190 

Sorrow, like a heavy-hanging bell, 

Once set on ringing, with his own weight goes : 

Then little strength rings out the doleful knell. 

Poems, 

191 

'Tis with my mind 
As with the tide, swell'd up unto its height,. 
That makes a still-stand, running neither way. 

19— ii. 3. 

192 

Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast. 17 — ii. 1. 

193 

Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul; 

And there I see such black and grained spots, 

As will not leave their tinct.f 36 — iii. 4. 

194 

My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirr'd ; 

And I myself see not the bottom of it. 26 — iii. 3. 

195 

Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring ; 

Your tributary drop3 belong to woe, 

Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy. 35 — iii. 2. 

* Split. t Colour. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 267 

196 

My heart is great ; but it must break with silence, 
Ere't be disburden'd with a liberal* tongue. 

17— ii. 1. 
]97 

There's nothing in this world, can make me joy : 

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale,f 

Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. 16 — iii. 4. 

198 

Thus are my blossoms blasted in the bud, 

And caterpillars eat my leaves away. 22 — iii. 1. 

199 
O, you kind gods, 
Cure this great breach in his abused nature ! 
The untuned and jarring senses, O, wind up 
Of this child-changed father ! 34 — iv. 7. 

200 

As the wretch, whose fever-weaken'd joints, 

Like strengthless hinges buckle! under life, 

Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire 

Out of his keeper's arms ; even so my limbs, 

Weaken'd with grief, being now enraged with grief, 

Are thrice themselves. 5 19 — i. 1. 

201 
Our strength is all gone into heaviness, 
That makes the weight ! 30— iv. 13. 

202 

Grief fills the room up of my absent child, 

Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me ; 

Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, 

Remembers me of all his gracious parts, 

Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form ; 

Then have I reason to be fond of grief. 16 — iii. 4. 

* Free. t Ps. xc. 9. J Bend, yield to pressure. 

§ Anger and terror have been known to remove a fit of the gout ; 
to give activity to the bed-ridden ; and to produce instantaneous 
and most extraordinary energies. 



268 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

203 

O, if thou teach me to believe this sorrow, 
Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die ; 
And let belief and life encounter so, 
As doth the fury of two desperate men, 
Which, in the very meeting, fall and die. 

16— iii. 1. 
204 

Even through the hollow eyes of death, 
I spy life peering ; but I dare not say 
How near the tidings of our comfort is. 17 — ii. 1. 

205 

The last she spake 
Was, Antony ! most noble Antony ! 
Then in the midst of a tearing groan did break 
The name of Antony ; it was divided 
Between her heart and lips. 30 — iv. 12. 

206 

I never saw a vessel of like sorrow, - 

So fill'd, and so becoming. 13 — iii. 3. 

207 

Are you like the painting of a sorrow, 

A face without a heart ? 36 — iv. 7. 

208 

Look, who comes here ! a grave unto a soul ; 

Holding the eternal spirit against her will, 

In the vile prison* of afflicted breath. 16 — iii. 4. 

209 
A Cyprus, f not a bosom, 
Hides my poor heart. 4— -iii. 1. 

210 

Ah, cut my lace asunder ! 
That my pent heart may have some scope to beat, 
Or else I swoon with this dead-killing news. 

24— iv. 1. 

* " Vile body."— Phil. iii. 21. t Transparent Btuff. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 269 

211 

Why tell you me of moderation 1 
The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste, 
And violenteth in a sense as strong 
As that which causeth it : How can I moderate it 1 
If I could temporize with my affection, 
Or brew it to a weak and colder palate, 
The like allayment could I give my grief; 
My love admits no qualifying dross : 
No more my grief, in such a precious loss. 

26— iv. 4. 
212 

I do note, 
That grief and patience, rooted in him both, 
Mingle their spurs* together. 

Grow, patience ! 
And let the stinking elder, grief, untwine 
His perishing root, with the increasing vine ! 

31— iv. 2. 

213 

1 am not prone to weeping, as our sex 
Commonly are ; the want of which vain dew, 
Perchance, shall dry your pities ; but I have 
That honourable grief lodged here, which burns 
Worse than tears drown. 13 — ii. 1. 

214 

O how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow I 
Her eyes seen in the tears, tears in her eye ; 
Both crystals, where they view'd each other's sorrow : 
Sorrow, that friendly sighs sought still to dry ; 
But like a stormy day, now wind, now rain, 
Sighs dry her cheeks, tears make them wet again. 

Poems. 

2L5 

Weep I cannot, 
But my heart bleeds. 13 — iii. 3. 

216 

O, how this motherf swells up toward my heart ! 

* Spurs are the roots of trees. t A disease called the mother. 

23* 



270 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

Hysterica passio ! — down, thou climbing sorrow, 
Thy element's below ! 34 — ii. 4. 

217 

I am a fool, 
To weep at what I am glad of. 1 — iii. 1. 

218 
The tempest in my mind 
Doth from my senses take all feeling else, 
Save what beats there. 34 — iii. 4. 

219 

O, melancholy ! 
Who ever yet could sound thy bottom 1 find 
The ooze, to show what coast thy sluggish crare 
Might easiliest harbour in 1 31 — iv. 2. 

220 

Grief hath changed me since you saw me last ; 
And careful hours, with Time's deformed hand, 
Have written strange defeatures* in my face. 

14— v. 1. 
221 

The incessant care and labour of his mind 

Hath wrought the mure,f that should confine it in, ^ 

So thin, that life looks through, and will break out. 

19— iv. 4. 

222 

O, what a noble combat hast thou fought, 

Between compulsion and a brave respect \\ 

Let me wipe off this honourable dew, 

That silvery doth progress on thy cheeks. 

My heart hath melted at a lady's tears, 

Being an ordinary inundation ; 

But this effusion of such manly drops, 

This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul, 

Startles mine eyes, and makes me more amazed 

Than I had seen the vaulty top of heaven 

Figured quite o'er with burning meteors. 

* Alteration of features. t Worked the wall. 

% Love of country. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 271 

Lift up thy brow, 

And with a great heart heave away this storm : 
Commend these waters to those baby eyes 
That never saw the giant world enraged ; 
Nor met with fortune other than at feasts, 
Full warm of blood, of mirth, of gossiping. 



16— v. 2. 



223 



Nobly he yokes 
A smiling with a sigh : as if the sigh 
Was that it was, for not being such a smile ; 
The smile mocking the sigh, that it would fly 
From so divine a temple, to commix 
With winds, that sailors rail at. 31 — iv. 2. 

224 

Even such a passion doth embrace my bosom : 

My heart beats thicker than a feverous pulse ; 

And all my powers do their bestowing lose 

Like vassalage at unawares encount'ring 

The eye of majesty. 26 — iii. 2. 

225 

Grieved I, I had but one *? 
Chid I for that at frugal nature's frame 1* 
O, one too much by thee ! Why had I one 1 
Why ever wast thou lovely in my eyes 1 
Why had I not with charitable hand, 
Took up a beggar's issue at my gates ; 
Who smirchedf thus, and mired with infamy 
I might have said, No part of it is mine, 
This shame derives itself from unknown loins? 
But mine, and mine I loved, and mine I praised, 
And mine that I was proud on ; mine so much, 
That I myself was to myself not mine, 
Valuing of her ; why, she — O, she is fallen 
Into a pit of ink ! that the wide sea 
Hath drops too few to wash her clean again ; 
And salt too little, which may season give 
To her foul tainted flesh. 6 — iv. 1. 

* Disposition of things. f Sullied. 



272 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

226 

Being that I flow in grief, 
The smallest twine may lead me.* 6 — iv. 1. 

227 

Tell me, what is't that takes from thee 
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep 1 
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth ; 
And start so often, when thou sit'st alone 1 
Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks ; 
And given my treasures, and my rights of thee, 
To thick-eyed musing, and cursed melancholy 1 
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch'd, 
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars, 
And all the currents! of a heady fight. 
Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war, 
And thus hath so bestirr'd thee in thy sleep, 
That beadsj of sweat have stood upon thy brow, 
Like bubbles in a late disturbed stream : 
And in thy face strange motions have appear'd 
Such as we see, when men restrain their breath 
On some great sudden haste. O what portents are 
these! 18— ii. 3. 

228 

Give me no help in lamentation, 
I am not barren to bring forth laments : 
All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes, 
That I, being govern'd by the watery moon, 
May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world ! 

24— ii. 2. 

229 

Why do you keep alone, 
Of sorriest fancies your companions making 1 
Using those thoughts, which should indeed have died 
With them they think on ? 15— iii. 2. 

* This is one of our author's observations upon life. Men over- 
powered with distress, eagerly listen to the first offers of relief, close 
with every scheme, arid believe every promise. He that has no 
longer any confidence in himself, is glad to repose his trust in any 
other that will undertake to guide him. 

t Occurrences. } Drops. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 273 

230 

His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops 
From eaves of reeds. « 1 — v. 1. 

231 

One of those odd tricks, which sorrow shoots 

Out of the mind. 30 — iv. 2. 

232 

We scarce thought us bless'd, 
That God hath sent us but this only child : 
But now I see this one is one too much, 
And that we have a curse in having her. 35 — iii. 5. 

233 

There's something in his soul, 
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood ; 
And, I do doubt, the hatch, and the disclose, 
Will be some danger. 36 — iii. 1. 

234 

Gracious words revive my drooping thoughts, 
And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak. 

23 — iii. 3. 
235 

Do not seek to take your change upon you, 
To bear your griefs yourself, and leave me out. 

10— i. 3. 
236 

I have this while with leaden thoughts been press'd ; 

But I shall, in a more continuate time, 

Strike off this score of absence. 37 — iii. 4. 

237 

Mourn I not for thee, 
And with the southern clouds contend in tears ; 
Their's for the earth's increase, mine for my sorrows 1 

22— iii. 2. 
238 

Play me that sad note 
I named my knell, whilst I sit meditating 
On that celestial harmony I go to. 25 — iv. 2. 



274 PAINTINGS OF NATURE. 

239 

The shadow of my sorrow 1 Ha ! let's see : — 
'Tis very true, my grief lies all within ; 
And these external manners of lament 
Are merely shadows to the unseen grief, 
That swells with silence in the tortured soul; 
There lies the substance. 17 — iv. 1. 

240 

Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds ; 

And he, the noble image of my youth, 

Is overspread with them : Therefore my grief 

Stretches itself beyond the hour of death ; 

The blood weeps from my heart. 

For when his headstrong riot hath no curb, 

When rage and hot blood are his counsellors, 

When means and lavish manners meet together, 

O, with what wings shall his affections* fly 

Towards fronting peril and opposed decay ! 

19— iv. 4. 
241 

His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life 
Began to crack. 34 — v. 3. 

242 

The tyranny of her sorrows takes all livelihood 
from her cheek. 11 — i. 1. 

243 

Your loss is as yourself, great ; and you bear it 

As answering to the weight : 'Would I might never 

O'ertake pursued success, but I do feel, 

By the rebound of yours, a grief that shoots 

My very heart at root. 30 — v. 2. 

244 

I pray thee, cease thy counsel, 
Which falls into mine ears as profitless 
As water in a sieve : give not me counsel ; 
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear, 
But such a one, whose wrongs do suit with mine. 

* His passion ; his inordinate desires. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 275 

Bring 1 me a father, that so loved his child, 

Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine, 

And bid him speak of patience; 

Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine, 

And let it answer every strain for strain ; 

As thus for thus, and such a grief for such, 

In every lineament, branch, shape, and form : 

If such a one will smile, and stroke his beard; 

Cry — sorrow, wag ! and hem, when he should groan ; 

Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk 

With candle-wasters ;* bring him yet to me, 

And I of him will gather patience. 

But there is no such man. 6 — v. 1. 

245 

Being not mad, but sensible of grief, 
My reasonable part produces reason 
How I may be deliver'd of these woes. 16 — iii. 4. 

246 

Ah, my tender babes ! 
My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets ! 
If yet your gentle souls fly in the air — 
Hover about me with your airy wings, 
And hear your mother's lamentation. 24 — iv. 4. 

247 

Sorrow and grief of heart 
Makes him speak fondly, like a frantic man. 

17 — iii. 3. 

248 

I pray thee leave me to myself to-night ; 

For I have need of many orisons 

To move the heavens to smile upon my state, 

Which, well thou know'st, is cross and full of sin. 

35— iv. 3. 

* Candle-wasters is a contemptuous term for scholars, and is so 
used by Ben Johnson, Cynthia's Revels, act iii. sc. 3. The sense 
then of the passage appears to be this : — If such a one will patch 
grief with proverbs— ease the wounds of grief with proverbial say- 
ings; make misfortune drunk with candle-wasters — stupify misfor- 
tune, or render himself insensible to the strokes of it, by the con- 
versation or lucubrations of scholars ; the production of the lamp, 
but not fitted to human nature. 



276 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

249 

With the eyes "of heavy mind, 
I see thy glory, like a shooting star, 
Fall to the base earth from the firmament ! 
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west, 
Witnessing storms to come, woe, and unrest. 

17— ii. 4. 

250 

Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, 

Making both it unable for itself, 

And dispossessing all the other parts 

Of necessary fitness 1 

So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons ; 

Come all to help him, and so stop the air. 

By which he should revive : and even so 

The general,* subject to a well-wish'd kingj 

Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondness 

Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love 

Must needs appear offence. 5 — ii. 4L 

251 

Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts, 

And thou art wedded to calamity. 35 — iii. 31, 

252 

Had it pleased Heaven 
To try me with affliction ; had he rain'd 
All kinds of sores, and shames, on my bare head; 
Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips ; 
Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes ; 
I should have found in some part of my soul 
A drop of patience : but (alas !) to make me 
A fixed figure, for the time of scorn 
To point his slow unmoving finger at, — 
O! O! 

Yet could I bear that too ; well, very well : 
But there, where I have garner'df up my heart ; 
Where either I must live, or bear no life : 
The fountain, from the which my current runs, 
Or else dries up ; to be discarded thence ! 

* People. Treasured up. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 277 

Or keep it as a cistern, for foul toads 

To knot and gender in ! — turn thy complexion there ! 

Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd cherubim, 

Ay, there, look grim as hell ! 37 — iv. 2. 

253 

Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon, 
When men revolted shall upon record 
Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did 

Before thy face repent ! 

O sovereign mistress of true melancholy, 

The poisonous damp of night disponge* upon me ; 

That life, a very rebel to my will, 

May hang no longer on me. 30 — iv. 9. 

254 

Bind up those tresses : O, what love I note 

In the fair multitude of those her hairs ! 

Where but by chance a silver drop hath fallen, 

Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends 

Do glue themselves in sociable grief; 

Like true, inseparable, faithful loves, 

Sticking together in calamity. 16 — iii. 4. 

255 

We are fellows still, 
Serving alike in sorrow : Leak'd is our bark ; 
And we, poor mates, stand on the dying deck, 
Hearing the surges threat : we must all part 
Into this sea of air. 27 — iv. 2. 

256 

What is in thy mind, 
That makes thee stare thus 1 Wherefore breaks that 

sigh 
From the inward of thee 1 One, but painted thus, 
Would be interpreted a thing perplex'd 
Beyond self explication. 31— iii. 4. 

257 

Myself, 
Who had the world as my confectionary, 

* Discharge as a sponge when squeezed discharges the moisture 
it had imbibed. 

24 



278 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, and hearts, of men 

At duty, more than I could frame employment; 

That numberless upon me stuck, as leaves 

Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush 

Fell from their boughs, and left me open, bare 

For every storm that blows. 27 — iv. 3. 

258 
I have felt so many quirks of joy, and grief, 
That the first face of neither, on the start, 
Can woman me unto 't. 11 — iii. 2. 

259 
Give me a gash, put me to present pain ; 
Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me, 
O'erbear the shores of my mortality, 
And drown me with their sweetness. 33 — v. 1. 

260 
A joy past joy. 35 — iii. 3. 

261 
There was speech in their dumbness, language in 
their very gesture : they looked, as they had heard of 
a world ransomed, or one destroyed :* A notable pas- 
sion of wonder appeared in them ; but the wisest be- 
holder, that knew no more but seeing, could not say, 
if the importance! were joy, or sorrow : but in the 
extremity of the one, it must needs be. 13 — v. 2. 

262 

You have bereft me of all words, 
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins: 
And there is such confusion in my powers, 
As, after some oration fairly spoke 
By a beloved prince, there doth appear 
Among the buzzing pleased multitude ; 

* This description not only contains the beautiful and the sub- 
lime, but rises to a still higher sublimity, or, to sp. ak in the style 
of the Psalmist, to the most highest, in the allusion to sacred writ, 
relating to the two principal articles in the Old and New Testament, 
the fall of man and his redemption. Shakspeare makes frequent 
references to the sacred text, and writes often, not only as a moral- 
ist, but as a divine. 

t The thing imported. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 279 

Where every something-, being blent* together, 

Turns to a wild of nothing-, save of joy, 

Express'd, and not express'd. 9 — iii. 2. 

263 

O rejoice, 
Beyond a common joy ; and set it down 
With gold on lasting pillars. 1 — v. 1. 



264 

I could weep, 
And I could laugh ; I am light, and heavy. 



28— ii. 1. 



265 

O my soul's joy ! 
If after every tempest come such calms, 
May the winds blow till they have waken'd death! * 
And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas, 
Olympus-high ; and duck again as low 
As hell's from heaven ! If it were now to die, 
'Twere now to be most happy ; for, I fear, 
My soul hath her content so absolute, 
That not another comfort like to this 
Succeeds in unknown fate. 37 — ii. 1. 

266 

Joy had the like conception in our eyes, 
And, at that instant, like a babe sprung up. 

27— i. 2. 
267 

His flaw'd heart, 
(Alack, too weak the conflict to support !) 
'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief, 
Burst smilingly. 34 — v. 3. 

268 

If the measure of thy joy 
Be heap'd like mine, and that thy skill be more 
To blazonf it, then sweeten with thy breath 
This neighbour air, and Jet rich music's tongue 
Unfold the imagined happiness, that both 
Receive in either by this dear encounter. 35 — ii. 6. 

* Blended. t Paint, display. 



280 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

269 

The course of true love never did run smooth ; 

But, either it was different in blood ; 

Or else misgraffed, in respect of years ; 

Or else it stood upon the choice of friends : 

Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, 

War, death, or sickness, did lay siege to it : 

Making- it momentary as a sound, 

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream ; 

Brief as the lightning in the collied* night, 

That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth, 

And ere a man hath power to say — Behold ! 

The jaws of darkness do devour it up : 

So quick bright things come to confusion. 7 — i. 1. 

270 

O that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am 
in love! But it cannot be sounded ; my affection hath 
an unknown bottom, like the bay of Portugal. . . . 
That same wicked brat of Venus, - that was begot of 
thought,! conceived of spleen, and born of madness ; 
that blind rascally boy, that abuses every one's eyes, 
because his own are out, let him be judge, how deep 1 
am in love. 10 — iv. 1. 

271 

O hard-believing love ! how strange it seems 

Not to believe, and yet too credulous ! 

Thy weal and woe are both of them extremes, 

Despair and hope make thee ridiculous ! 

The one doth flatter thee, in thoughts unlikely, 

With likely thoughts, the other kills thee quickly. 

Poems. 

272 

If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully ; 
Or, if thou think'st I am too quickly won, 
I'll frown, and be perverse, and say thee nay, 
So thou wilt woo ; but, else, not for the world. 

35 — ii v 2. 

* Black. t Melancholy. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 281 

273 

Farewell, one eye yet looks on thee ; 
But with my heart the other eye doth see. 
Ah ! poor our sex ! this fault in us I find, 
The error of our eye directs our mind : 
What error leads, must err ; O then conclude, 
Minds, sway'd by eyes, are full of turpitude. 

26— v. 2. 
274 

We cannot fight for love, as men may do ; 

We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo. 

7— ii. 2. 
275 

She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd ; 

And I loved her, that she did pity them. 37 — i. 3. 

276 

Kind is my love to-day, to-morrow kind, 
Still constant in a wondrous excellence ; 
Fair, kind, and true, have often lived alone, 
Which three, till now, never kept seat in one. 

Poems. 
277 

We make woe wanton with' this fond delay : 
Once more, adieu ; the rest let sorrow say. 

278 

On a day, (alack the day !) 
Love, whose month is ever May, 
Spied a blossom, passing fair, 
Playing in the wanton air : 
Through the velvet leaves the wind, 
All unseen, 'gan passage find ; 
That the lover, sick to death, 
Wish'd himself the heaven's breath. 
Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow ; 
Air, would I might triumph so ! 
But alack my hand is sworn, 
Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn : 
Vow, alack, for youth unmeet ; 
Youth, so apt to pluck a sweet. 

24* 



17— v. 1. 



282 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

Do not call it sin in me, 

That I am forsworn for thee : 

Thou, for whom even Jove would swear, 

Juno but an Ethiop were ; 

And deny himself for Jove, 

Turning mortal for thy love. 8 — iv. 3. 

279 
Love's heralds should be thoughts, 
Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams, 
Driving back shadows over low'ring hills : 
Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw love, 
And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings. 

35— ii. 5. 
280 

O, how this spring of love resembleth 

The uncertain glory of an April day ; 
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, 

And by and by a cloud takes all away ! 2 — i. 3. 

281 
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, 
May prove a beauteous flower, when next we meet. 

35— ii. 2. 

282 

How silver-sweet sound lover's tongues by night, 
Like softest music to attending ears ! 35 — ii. 2. 

283 

Love like a shadow flies, when substance love pursues ; 
Pursuing that that flies, and flying what pursues. 

3— ii. 2. 
284 

Things base and vile, holding no quantity, 

Love can transpose to form and dignity. 

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind ; 

And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind ; 

Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste ; 

Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste : 

And therefore is Love said to be a child, 

Because in choice he is so oft beguiled. 

As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, 

So the boy Love is perjured every where. 7 — i. 1. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 283 

285 

O most potential love ! vow, bond, nor space, 
In thee hath neither sting 1 , knot, nor confine, 
For thou art all, and all things else are thine. 
When thou impressest, what are precepts worth 
Of stale example 1 When thou wilt inflame, 
How coldly those impediments stand forth 
Of wealth, of filial fear, law, kindred, fame 1 
Love's arms are peace, 'gainst rule, 'gainst sense, 

'gainst shame ; 
And sweetens, in the suffering pangs it bears, 
The aloes of all forces, shocks, and fears. 

Poems. 

286 

Love's counsellors should fill the bores of hearing, 
To the smothering of the sense. 31 — iii. 2. 

287 

Love is blind, and lovers cannot see 

The pretty follies that themselves commit. 9 — ii. 6. 

288 

Tell me, where is Fancy* bred, 
Or in the heart, or in the head 1 
How begot, how nourished 1 

It is engender'd in the eyes, 

With gazing fed ; and Fancy dies 

In the cradle where it lies. 9 — iii. 2. 

289 

Love is full of unbefitting strains ; 

All wanton as a child, skipping, and vain ; 

Form'd by the eye, and, therefore, like the eye 

Full of strange shapes, of habits and of forms, 

Varying in subjects as the eye doth roll 

To every varied object in his glance. 8 — v. 2. 

290 
Love is a smoke raised with a fume of sighs ; 
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes ; 

* Love. 



284 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears : 

What is it else! a madness most discreet, 

A choking gall, and a preserving sweet. 35 — i. 1. 

291 

I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow ; 
By his best arrow with the golden head ; 
By the simplicity of Venus' doves; 
By that which knitteth souls, and prospers loves ; 
'And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen, 
When the false Trojan under sail was seen ! 
By all the vows that ever man have broke, 
r In numbers more than ever women spoke; — 
In -that same place thou hast appointed ma, 
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee. 7 — i. 1. 

292 

He says, he loves my daughter: 
I think so too ; for never gazed the moon 
Upon the water, as he'll stand, and read, 
\s 'twere, my daughter's eyes : and, to be plain, 
I think there is not half a kiss to choose, 
Who loves another best.* 13 — iv. 3. 

293 

O, that I thought it could be in a woman, 

To feed for ayef her lamp and flames of love ; 

To keep her constancy in plight and youth, 

Outliving beauty's outward, with a mind 

That doth renew swifter than blood deeays ! 

Or, that persuasion could but thus convince me, 

That my integrity and truth to you 

Might be affrontedj with the match and weight 

Of such a winnow'd purity in love ; 

How were I then uplifted ! but, alas, 

I am as true as truth's simplicity, 

And simpler than the infancy of truth. 26 — iii. 2. 

294 
If ever (as that ever may be near) 

* The other best. f Ever. \ Meet with an equal. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 285 

You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy, 

Then shall you know the wounds invisible 

That love's keen arrows make. 10 — iii. 5. 

295 
Time, force, and death, 
Do to this body what extremes you can ; 
But the strong base and building of my love 
Is as the very centre of the earth, 
Drawing all things to it. 26 — iv. 2. 

296 
O you leaden messengers, 
That ride upon the violent speed of fire, 
Fly with false aim ; move the still-piercing air, 
That sings with piercing, do not touch my lord ! 

11— iii. 2. 
297 

-Leave you your power to draw, 
And I shall have no power to follow you. 7 — ii. 2. 

298 
Sweet silent hours of marriage joys. 24 — iv. 4. 

299 

If music be the food of love, play on, 
Give me excess of it ; that, surfeiting, 

The appetite may sicken, and so die. 

That strain again ; it had a dying fall : 

O, it. came o'er my ear like the sweet south, 

That breathes upon a bank of violets, ' 

Stealing and giving odour. 4 — i. 1. 

300 

Love is like a child, 
That longs for every thing that he can come by. 

2 — iii. 1. 
301 

Tell this youth what 'tis to love. — 
It is to be all made of sighs and tears ; 
It is to be all made of faith and service ; — 
It is to be all made of fantasy, 



286 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

All made of passion, and all made of wishes ; 

All adoration, duty, and observance, 

All humbleness, all patience, and impatience, 

All purity, all trial, all observance.* 10 — v. 2. 

302 

My love's 
More richer than my tongue. 34 — i. 1. 

303 

I have done penance for contemning love; 

Whose high imperious thoughts have punish'd me 

With bitter fasts, with penitential groans, 

With nightly tears, and daily heart-sore sighs ; 

For, in revenge of my contempt of love, 

Love hath chased sleep from my enthralled eyes, 

And made thern watchers of mine own heart's sorrow. 

O, love's a mighty lord ; 

And hath so humbled me, as, I confess, 

There is no woe to his correction,! 

Nor, to his service, no such joy on earth ! 

Now, no discourse, except it be of love ; 

Now can I break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep, 

Upon the very naked name of love. 2 — ii. 4. 

304 
O brawling love ! O loving hate i 
O any thing, of nothing first create ! 

heavy lightness ! serious vanity ! 
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms ! 
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health ! 
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is ! 35 — i. 1. 

305 

1 leave myself, my friends, and all for love. 

Thou hast metamorphosed me ; 
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time, 
War with good counsel, set the world at nought ; 
Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought. 

2— i. 1. 

* Perhaps, obedience. 

t No misery that can be compared to the punishment inflicted by 
love. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 287 

306 
The gifts, she looks from me, are pack'd and lock'd 
Up in my heart : which I have given already, 
But not deliver'd. 13 — iv. 3. 

307 
Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares. 

19— v. 2. 
308 
Doubt thou, the stars are fire ; 

Doubt, that the sun doth move : 
Doubt truth to be a liar ; 

But never doubt, I love. 36 — ii. 2. 

309 
Bashful sincerity, and comely love. 6 — iv. 1. 

310 

Here comes the lady ; — O, so light a foot 

Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint: 

A lover may bestride the gossamers,* 

That idle in the wanton summer air, 

And yet not fall ; so light is vanity. 35 — ii. 6. 

311 

O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou I 

That, notwithstanding thy capacity 

Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there, 

Of what validityt and pitch soe'er, 

But falls into abatement and low price, 

Even in a minute ! so full of shapes is fancy, 

That it alone is high-fantastieal.t, 4— i. 1. 

312 

She bids you, 
Upon the wanton rushes lay you down, 
And rest your gentle head upon her lap, 
And she will sing the song that pleaseth you, 
And on your eyelids crown the god of sleep,§ 

* The long white filament which flies in the air. 

| Value. } Fantastical to the height. 

§ This expression is fine ; intimating that the god of sleep would 
not only sit on his eyelids, but that he should sit crowned, that is, 
pleased and delighted. 



288 PAINTINGS OF NATURE. 

Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness ; 
Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep, 
As is the difference 'twixt day and night, 
The hour before the heavenly- harness'd team 
Begins his golden progress in the east. 18 — iii. 1. 

313 

She is so conjunctive to my life and soul, 

That, as the star moves not but in his sphere, 

I could not but by her. 36 — iv. 7. 

314 
Sweet, rouse yourself; and the weak wanton Cupid 
Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold, 
And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane, 
Be shook to air. 26 — iii. 3. 

315 

It were all one, 
That I should love a bright particular star, 
And think to wed it, he is so above me : 
In his bright radiance, and collateral light 
Must I be comforted, not in his sphere.* 
The ambition in my love thus plagues itself: 
The hind, that would be mated by the lion, 
Must die for love. 11 — i. 1. 

316 
Dost thou love pictures 1 we will fetch thee straight 
Adonis, painted by a running brook : 
And Cytherea all in sedges hid ; 
Which seem to move and wanton with her breath, 
Even as the waving sedges play with wind. 

12 — Induction, 2. 

317 

My love is thaw'd ; 
Which, like a waxen image 'gainst a fire, 
Bears no impression of the thing it was. 2 — ii. 4. 

318 
Now by the jealous queenf of heaven, that kiss 

* I cannot be united with him and move in the same sphere, but 
must be comforted at a distance by the radiance that shoots on all 
sides from him. f Juno. 



AND THE PASSIONS, 289 

I carried from thee, dear ; my true lip 

Hath virgin'd it e'er since- 28 — v. 3. 

Should we be taking leave 
As long a term as yet we have to live, 
The loathness to depart would grow. 31 — i. 2. 

32a 

She would hang on him, 
As if increase of appetite had grown. 
By what it fed on. 36— i. 2. 

321 

How all the other passions fleet to air, 

As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair, 

And shudd'ring fear, and green-eyed jealousy. 

love, be moderate, allay thy ecstasy, 

In measure rain thy joy, scant this excess ; 

1 feel too much thy blessing, make it less,. 

For fear I surfeit I 9 — iii. 2, 

322 

Take, oh, take those lips away, 
That so sweetly were forsworn ; 

And those eyes, the break of day, 
Lights that do mislead the morn : 

But my kisses bring again, 

Seals of love ; but seaPd in vain. 5 — iv. 1. 

323 

A lover's pinch, 
Which hurts, and is desired. 30 — v. 2. 

324 
If'ever thou shalt lave, 
In the sweet pangs of it remember me : 
For, such as I am, all true lovers are ; 
Unstaid and skittish in all motions else, 
Save, in the constant image of the creature 
That is beloved. 4 — ii. 4. 

325 

I will wind thee in my arms. 
So doth the woodbine, the sweet honeysuckle,. 

25 



290 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

Gently entwist, — the female ivy so 

Enrings the barky fingers of the elm. 7 — iv. 1 # 

326 

A loss of her, 
That, like a jewel, has hung twenty years, 
About his neck, yet never lost her lustre. 25 — ii. 2. 

327 

A love, that makes breath poor, and speech unable. 

34— i. 1. 
328 

You are a lover ; borrow Cupid's wings, 

And soar with them above a common bound. . . . 

I am too sore empierced with his shaft, 

To soar with his light feathers : and so bound, 

I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe : 

Under love's heavy burden do I sink. 35 — i. 4. 

329 

Love goes towards love, as school-boys from their 

books : 
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks. 

35— ii. 2. 
330 

This weak impress of love is as a figure 
Trenched* in ice ; which with an hour's heat 
Dissolves to water, and doth lose his form. 

2— iii. 2. 
331 

I would have thee gone ; 
And yet no farther than a wanton's bird, 
That lets it hop a little from her hand, 
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gy ves,f 
And with a silk thread plucks it back again, 
So loving-jealous of his liberty. 35— ii. 2. 



332 

So holy, and so perfect is my love, 
And I in such a poverty of grace, 



* Cut. t Fetters. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 291 

That I shall think it a most plenteous crop 

To glean the broken ears after the man 

That the main harvest reaps : loose now and then 

A scatter'd smile, and that I'll live upon. 10 — iii. 5. 

333 

Our separation so abides, and flies, 

That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me, 

And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee. 

30—i. 3. 
334 

Where injury of chance 
Puts back leave-taking, justles roughly by 
All time of pause, rudely beguiles our lips 
Of all rejoindure, forcibly prevents 
Our lock'd embrasures, strangles our dear vows 
Even in the birth of our own labouring breath : 
We two, that with so many thousand sighs 
Did buy each other, must poorly sell ourselves 
With the rude brevity and discharge of one. 
Injurious time now, with a robber's haste, 
Crams his rich thievery up, he knows not how: 
As many farewells as be stars in heaven, 
With distinct breath and consign'd* kisses to them, 
He fumbles up into a loose adieu; 
And scants us with a single famish'd kiss, 
Distasted with the salt of brokenf tears. 26 — iv. 4. 

335 

Friends condemned, 
Embrace, and kiss, and take ten thousand leaves, 
Loather a hundred times to part than die. 22 — iii. 2. 

336 

I did not take my leave of him, but had 
Most pretty things to say : ere I could tell him, 
How I would think on him, at certain hours, 
Such thoughts, and such ; 

* * * * * * 

Or have charged him 
At the sixth hour of morn, at noon, at midnight, 

* Sealed, t Interrupted. 



292 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

To encounter me with orisons,* for then 
I am in heaven for him ;f or ere I could 
Give him that parting kiss, which I had set 
Betwixt two charming words, comes in my father, 
And, like the tyrannous breathing of the north, 
Shakes all our buds from growing. 31 — i. 4. 

337 

What ! keep a week away 1 seven days and nights 1 
Eight score eight hours 1 and lovers' absent hours, 
More tedious than the dial eight score times 1 
O weary reckoning ! 37 — iii. 4. 

338 

O, for a falconer's voice, 
To lure this tassel-gentlej back again ! 
Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud ; 
Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies, 
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine 
With repetition of my Romeo's name. 35 — ii. 2. 

339 

Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, 
Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will 1 

35— i. 1. 
340 

Lovers, and madmen, have such seething brains, 

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend 

More than cool reason ever comprehends. 7 — v. 1. 

341 

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, 

Are of imagination all compact : 

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold ; 

That is, the madman : the lover, all as frantic, 

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt : 

The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, 

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to 

heaven ; 
And, as imagination bodies forth 

* Meet me with reciprocal prayers. 

t My solicitations ascend to heaven on his behalf. 

X The male of the goshawk. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 293 

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 

Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 

A local habitation, and a name. 

Such tricks hath strong imagination ; 

That, if it would but apprehend some joy, 

It comprehends some bringer of that joy ; 

Or, in the night, imagining some fear, 

How easy is a bush supposed a bear 1 7 — v. 1. 

342 

How wayward is this foolish love, 

That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse, 

And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod ! 2 — i, 2, 

343 

But love, first learned in a lady's eyes, 

Lives not alone immured in the brain ; 

But with the motion of all elements, 

Courses as swift as thought in every power ; 

And gives to every power a double power, 

Above their functions and their offices. 

It adds a precious seeing to the eye ; 

A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind ; 

A lover's ear will hear the lowest sound, 

When the suspicious head of theft is stopp'd ; 

Love's feeling is more soft and sensible, 

Than are the tender horns of cockled* snails ; 

Love's tongue proves dainty Bacchus gross in taste : 

For valour is not love a Hercules, 

Still climbing trees in the Hesperides 1 

Subtle as sphinx ; as sweet, and musical, 

As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair ; 

And, when love speaks, the voice of all the gods 

Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony. 

Never durst poet touch a pen to write, 

Until his ink were temper'd with love's sighs. 

O, then his lines would ravish savage ears, 

And plant in tyrants mild humility. 8— iv. 3. 

344 

Why ; what would you ? . . . 
Make me a willow cabin at your gate, 

* Inshelled. 

25* 



294 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

And call upon my soul within the house ; 

Write loyal cantons* of contemned love, 

And sing them loud even in the dead of night, 

Holla your name to the reverberate hills, 

And make the babbling gossip of the airf 

Cry out, Olivia ! O, you should not rest 

Between the elements of air and earth, 

But you should pity me. 4 — i. 5. 

345 

If he be not one that truly loves you, 
That errs in ignorance, and not in cunning,! 
I have no judgment in an honest face. 37 — iii. 3. 

346 

To be 

In love, where scorn is bought with groans ; coy looks, 

With heart-sore sighs ; one fading moment's mirth, 

With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights : 

If haply won, perhaps, a hapless gain ; 

If lost, why then a grievous labour won ; 

However, but a folly bought with wit, 

Or else a wit by folly vanquished. 2 — i. 1. 

347 
Didst thou but know the inly touch of love, 
Thou would'st as soon go kindle fire with snow, 
As seek to quench the fire of love with words. . . . 
I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire ; 
But qualify the fire's extreme rage, 
Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. . . . 
The more thou dam'st§ it up, the more it burns ; 
The current that with gentle murmur glides, 
Thou know'st, being stopp'd, impatiently doth rage ; 
But, when his fair course is not hindered, 
He makes sweet music with the enamel'd stones, 
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge 
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage ; 
And so by many winding nooks he strays, 
With willing sport, to the wild ocean. 

* Cantos, verses. 

t A most beautiful expression for an echo. 

% Knowledge. § Closest. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 295 

Then let me go, and hinder not my course : 

I'll be as patient as a gentle stream, 

And make a pastime of each weary step, 

Till the last step, have brought me to my love ; 

And there I'll rest, as after much turmoil,* 

A blessed soul doth in Elysium. 2 — ii. 7. 

348 

O, thou didst then ne'er love so heartily : 

If thou remember'st not the slightest folly 

That ever love did make thee run into, 

Thou hast not loved : 

Or, if thou hast not sat, as I do now, 

Wearying thy hearer in thy mistress' praise, 

Thou hast not loved : 

Or, if thou hast not broke from company, 

Abruptly, as my passion now makes me, 

Thou hast not loved. 10 — ii. 4. 

349 

What shall I do to win my lord again ? 

Good friend, go to him ; for, by this light of heaven, 

I know not how I lost him. Here I kneel : 

If e'er my will did trespass 'gainst his love, 

Either in discourse! of thought, or actual deed ; 

Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense, 

Delighted them in any other form ; 

Or that I do not yet, and ever did, 

And ever will, — though he do shake me off 

To beggarly divorcement, — love him dearly, 

Comfort forswear me ! Unkindness may do much : 

And his unkindness may defeat my life, 

But never taint my love. 37 — iv. 2. 

350 

That which I show, Heaven knows, is merely love, 
Duty and zeal to your unmatched mind, 
Care of your food and living : and, believe it, 

For any benefit that points to me, 
Either in hope, or present, I'd exchange 

* Trouble. t Either in discursive thought, or actual deed. 



296 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

For this one wish, That you had power and wealth 
To requite me, by making rich yourself. 27 — iv. 3. 

351 

I tell thee, I am mad 
In Cressid's love : Thou answer'st, She is fair ; 
Pour'st in the open ulcer of my heart 
Her eyes, her hair, her cheeks, her gait, her voice; 
Handiest in thy discourse, O, that her hand, 
In whose comparison all whites are ink, 
Writing their own reproach ; to whose soft seizure 
The cygnet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense 
Hard as the palm of ploughman ! 26 — i. 1. 

352 

I grow to you, and our parting is a tortured body. 

11— ii. 1. 
353 

All thy vexations 
Were but my trials of thy love, and thou 
Hast strangely stood the test 1 — iv. 1. 

354 

Boldness comes to me now, and brings me heart : — 

Prince Troilus, I have loved you night and day 

For many weary months . . . 

Why was my-Cressid then so hard to win? . . . 

Hard to seem won ; but I was won, my lord, 

With the first glance that ever — Pardon me ; 

If I confess much, you will play the tyrant. 

I love you now ; but not, till now, so much 

But I might master it : — in faith, I lie ; 

My thoughts were like unbridled children, grown 

Too headstrong for their mother : See, we fools ; 

Why have I blabb'd 1 who shall be true to us, 

When we are so unsecret to ourselves 1 

But, though I loved you well, I woo'd you not ; 

And yet, good faith, I wish'd myself a man; 

Or that we women had men's privilege 

Of speaking first. Sweet, bid me hold my tongue ; 

For, in this rapture, I shall surely speak 

The thing I shall repent ! See, see, your silence, 



AND THE PASSIONS. 297 

Cunning in dumbness, from my weakness draws 

My very soul of counsel. 26 — iii. 2. 

355 

Nay, 'tis true ; there was never any thing so sud- 
den, but the fight of two rams, and Caesar's thra- 
sonical brag of — J came, saio, and overcame : For 
your brother and my sister no sooner met, but they 
looked; no sooner looked, but they loved; no sooner 
loved, but they sighed ; no sooner sighed, but they 
asked one another the reason ; no sooner knew the 
reason, but they sought the remedy ; and in these 
degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage. 
They are in the very wrath of love* 
and they will together; clubs cannot part them. 

10— v. 2. 
356 

Her virtues, graced with external gifts, 

Do breed love's settled passions in my heart. 

21— v. 5. 
357 

If I do prove her haggard,* 
Though that her jessesf were my dear heart-strings, 
I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind, 
To prey at fortune. 

1 had rather be a toad, 
And live upon the vapour of a dungeon, 
Than keep a corner in the thing I love, 
For other's uses. 37 — iii. 3. 

358 

True lovers run into strange capers ; but as all is 
mortal in nature, so is all nature, in love, mortal in 
folly. 10— ii. 4. 

359 

Mine eyes 
Were not in fault, for she was beautiful ; 
Mine ears, that heard her flattery ; nor my heart, 
That thought her like her seeming ; it had been 

vicious, 
To have mistrusted her. 31 — v. 5. 

* A species of hawk; also a term of reproach applied to a wanton, 
t Straps of leather by which a hawk is held on the fist. 



298 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

360 
What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue 1 
I cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference. 

10— i. 2. 

361 

You are my true and honourable wife ; 

As dear to me as are the ruddy drops 

That visit my sad heart. 29 — ii. 1. 

362 

'Tis not to make me jealous, 
To say — my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company, 
Is free of speech, sings, plays, and dances well ; 
Where virtue is, these are more virtuous :* 
Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw 
The smallest fear, or doubt of her revolt; 
For she had eyes, and chose me : No, 
I'll see, before I doubt ; when I doubt, prove ; 
And on the proof, there is no more but this, — 
Away at once with love, or jealousy. 37 — iii. 3. 

363 

The truest poetry is the most feigning ; and lovers 
are given to poetry ; and what they swear in poetry, 
may be said, as lovers, they do feign. 10 — iii. 3. 

364 

Jig off a tune at the tongue's end, canary to it 
with your feet, humour it with turning up your eye- 
lids ; sigh a note, and sing a note ; sometime through 
the throat, as if you swallowed love with singing 
love; sometime through the nose, as if you snuffed 
up love by smelling love ; — and keep not too long in 
one tune, but a snip and away : These are comple- 
ments, these are humours; these betray nice wenches. 

8— iii. 1. 

365 

The expedition of my violent love 

Out-ran the pauser reason. 15 — ii. 3. 

* Which makes fair gifts fairer. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 299 

366 

0, what damned minutes tells he o'er 

Who dotes, yet doubts ; suspects, yet strongly loves ! 

37— iii. 3. 
367 

Admired Miranda; 
Indeed, the top of admiration ; worth 
What's dearest to the world ! Full many a lady 
] have eyed with best regard ; and many a time 
The harmony of their tongues hath into bondage 
Brought my too diligent ear : for several virtues 
Have I liked several women ; never any 
With so full soul, but some defect in her 
Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed,* 
And put it to the foil : But you, O you, 
So perfect, and so peerless, are created 
Of every creature's best.f 1 — iii* 1. 

368 

1, an old turtle,^ 

Will wing me to some wither'd bough ; and there, 

My mate, that's never to be found again, 

Lament till I am lost. 13 — v. 3. 

369 
I cannot come to Cressid, but by Pandar ; 
And he's as tetchy to be woo'd to woo, 
As she is stubborn- chaste against all suit. 
Tell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne's love, 
What Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we 1 
Her bed is India : there she lies, a pearl : 
Between our Ilium, and where she resides, 
Let it be call'd the wild and wandering flood ; 
Ourself, the merchant ; and this sailing Pandar, 
Our doubtful hope, our convoy, and our bark. 

26— i. 1. 

370 

Love 
Will creep in service where it cannot go. 2 — iv. 2. 

* Owned. t Alluding to the picture of Venus by Apelles. 

X A widow. 



300 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

371 

Love is not love, 
Which alters when it alteration finds ; 
Or bends, with the remover to remove : 

no ! it is an ever-fixed mark, 

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken ; 

It is the star to every wandering bark, 

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be 

taken. 
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 
Within his bending sickle's compass come ; 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 

Poems. 
372 

She stripp'd it* from her arm ; I see her yet ; 

Her pretty action did outsell her gift, 

And yet enrich'd it too. 31 — ii. 4. 

373 

Thou art alone, 
(If thy rare qualities, sweet gentleness, 
Thy meekness saint-like, wife-like government, — 
Obeying in commanding, — and thy parts, 
Sovereign and pious else, could speak thee out,|) 
The queen of earthly queens. 25— ii. 4. 

374 

1 love your son : 

My friends were poor, but honest ; so's my love. 

Be not offended ; for it hurts not him, 

That he is loved of me : I follow him not 

By any token of presumptuous suit : 

Nor would I have him, till I do deserve him ; 

Yet never know how that desert should be. 

I know I love in vain, strive against hope. 

Yet, in this captious and intenible sieve,! 

I still pour in the waters of my love, 

And lack not to lose still : thus Indian-like, 

* Her bracelet. t Speak out thy merits. 

% ' Captious' may mean recipient, capable of receiving what is put 
into it ; and by ' intenible,' incapable of holding or retaining it. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 301 

Religious in mine error, I adore 

The sun, that looks upon his worshipper, 

But knows of him no more. 11 — i. 3. 

375 

I will be gone : 
My being here it is, that keeps thee hence : 
Shall I stay here 1 No, no, although 
The air of paradise did fan the house, 
And angels officed all. 11 — iii. 2, 

376 

O give pity 
To her, whose state is such, that cannot choose 
But lend and give, where she is sure to lose ; 
That seeks not to find that her search implies, 
But, riddle-like, lives sweetly where she dies. 

11— i. 3. 

377 

Disloyal? No: 
She's punish'd for her truth ; and undergoes, 
More goddess-like than wife-like, such assaults 
As would take in some virtue. 31 — iii. 2. 

378 

Thou art full of love and honesty, 
And weigh'st thy words before thou giv'st them 

breath, — 
Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more : 
For such things, in a false disloyal knave, 
Are tricks of custom ; but, in a man that's just, 
They are close denotements working from the heart, 
That passions cannot rule. 37 — iii. 3. 

379 

This tune — 
It gives a very echo to the seat 
Where love is throned. 4 — ii. 4. 

380 

Let pale-faced fear keep with the mean-born man. 

22— iii. 1. 
381 

I feel such sharp dissension in my breast, 

26 



302 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear, 
As I am sick with working of my thoughts. 

21— v. 5. 
382 

Imagination of some great exploit 

Drives him beyond the bounds of patience. 

He apprehends a world of figures here, 
But not the form of what he should attend. 

18 — i. a 
383 

A jealousy so strong, 
That judgment cannot cure. 37 — ii. 2. 

384 
Each jealous of the other, as the stung 
Are of the adder. 34 — v. 1. 

385 

Since you to non-regardance cast my faith, 

And that I partly know the instrument 

That screws me from my true place in your favour, 

Live you, the marble-breasted tyrant, still. 4 — v. 1. 

386 

It is a quarrel most unnatural, 

To be revenged on him that loveth thee. 24 — i. 2. 

387 
Lean-faced Envy in her loathsome cave. 22 — iii. 2. 

388 
The eagle-winged pride 
Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts, 
With rival-hating envy, set you on. 17 — i. 3. 

389 
Thou dost wrong me ; as the slaughterer doth, 
Which giveth many wounds, when one will kill. 

21 — ii. 5. 
390 

She hath 
Look'd black upon me ; struck me with her tongue, 
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart. 34— -ii. 4. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 303 

391 

High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire, 

In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire. 17 — i. 1. 

392 
Thy sister's naught : she hath tied 
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here — * 

(Points to his heart.) 

34— ii. 4. 
393 

Ingratitude, more strong than traitor's arms, 
Quite vanquish'd him : then burst his mighty heart. 

29— iii. 2. 
394 

O, it comes o'er my memory, 
As doth the raven o'er the infected house, 
Boding to all.f 37— iv. 1. 

395 

This man's brow, like to a title-leaf,! 
Foretells the nature of a tragic volume : 
So looks the strond,§ whereon the imperious flood 
Hath left a witness'd usurpation. || 
Thou tremblest ; and the whiteness in thy cheek 
Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand. 
Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, 
So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone,1F 
Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night, 
And would have told him, half his Troy was burn'd. 

19— i. 1. 
396 
What haste looks through his eyes! So should he 

look, 
That seems to speak things strange. 15 — i. 2. 

397 
I see a strange confession in thine eye : 

* Alluding to the fable of Prometheus. 

t The raven was thought to be a constant attendant on a house 
infected with the plague. 

\ In the time of our poet the title-page to an elegy, as well as 
every intermediate leaf, was totally black. 

§ Beach. || An attestation of its ravage. 

ft Far gone in woe. 



304 PAINTINGS OF NATURE 

Thou shak'st thy head, and hold'st it fear, or sin, 
To speak a truth. 19 — i. I. 

398 

The setting of thine eye, and cheek, proclaim 

A matter from thee ; and a birth, indeed, 

Which throes thee much to yield. 1 — ii. 1. 

399 

Alas, how is't with you 1 
That you do bend your eye on vacancy, 
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse 1 
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep ; 
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, 
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,* 
Starts up, and stands on end. 36 — iii. 4. 

400 
A dagger of the mind ; a false creation, 
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain. 

15— ii. 1. 

401 

This is mere madness : 
And thus a while the fit will work on him ; 
Anon, as patient as the female dove, 
When that her golden couplets are disclosed,! 
His silence will sit drooping. 36 — v. 1. 

402 

His very madness, like some ore, 
Among a mineral of metals base, 
Shows itself pure. 36 — iv. 1. 

403 

Divided from herself, and her fair judgment ; 
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts. 

36— iv. 5. 
404 

She is importunate; indeed, distract; 
Her mood will needs be pitied. 



* The hair of animals is excrementitious, that is, without life or 
sensation. f Hatched. 



AND THE PASSIONS. 305 

She speaks much of her father ; says, she hears, 
There's tricks i' the world ; and hems, and beats her 

heart ; 
Spurns enviously at straws ; speaks things in doubt, 
That carry but half sense ; her speech is nothing, 
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move 
The hearers to collection ; they aim* at it, 
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts : 
Which, as her winks, and nods, and gesture's yield 

them, 
Indeed would make one think, there might be thought. 
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily. 

36— iv. 5. 
405 

Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can 

Her heart inform her tongue: the swan's down 

feather, 
That stands upon the swell at full of tide, 
And neither way inclines. 30 — iii. 2. 

406 

He was met even now 
As mad as the vex'd sea : singing aloud ! 
Crown'd with rank fumiter, and furrow weeds, 
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, 
Darnel, and all the idle weeds, that grow 
In our sustaining corn. 34 — iv. 4. 

407 

Some strange commotion 
Is in his brain : he bites his lip, and starts ; 
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground, 
Then lays his finger on his temple ; straight, 
Springs out into fast gait ; then, stops again, 
Strikes his breast hard ; and anon, he casts 
His eye against the moon; in most strange postures 
We have seen him set himself. 25 — iii. 2. 

408 
The exterior, not the inward man 
Resembles that it was. 36 — ii. 2. 

* Guess. 

26* 



306 PAINTINGS OF NATURE AND THE PASSIONS. 

409 

Mad let us grant him then ; and now remains, 

That we find out the cause of this effect : 

Or, rather say, the cause of this defect ; 

For this effect, defective, comes by cause. 36 — ii. 2. 

410 

Thou hast cast away thyself, being like thyself; 

A madman so long, now a fool : What, think'st 

That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain, 

Will put thy shirt on warm 1 Will these moss'd trees, 

That have outlived the eagle, page thy heels, 

And skip, when thou point'st out] Will the cold 

brook, 
Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste, 
To cure thy o'ernight's surfeit 1 call the creatures, — 
Whose naked natures live in all the spite 
Of wreakful heaven ; whose bare unhoused trunks, 
To the conflicting elements exposed, 
Answer mere nature, — bid them flatter thee. 

27— iv. 3. 



APHORISMS. 



We ought to make collections of the thoughts of Shak- 
speare ; they may be cited on every occasion and under 
every form ; and no man who has a tincture of letters 
can open his works without finding there a thousand 
things which he ought not to forget." 

VlLLEMAIN. 



APHORISMS. 



1 Sin will pluck on sin.* 24 — iv. 2. 

2 'Tis one thing to be tempted, 

Another thing to fall. 5 — ii. 1. 

3 'Tis not enough to help the feeble up, 

But to support him after. 27 — i. 1. 

4 When our actions do not, 

Our fears do make us traitors. 15 — iv. 2. 

5 Charity itself fulfils the law. 8 — iv. 3. 

6 Be to yourself, 

As you would to your friend. 25 — i. 1. 

7 Trust not him, that hath once broken faith. 

23— iv. 4. 

8 There's place, and means, for every man alive. 

11— iv. 3. 

9 How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds, 
Makes deeds ill done ! 16— iv. 2. 

10 A heart unspotted is not easily daunted. 

22— iii. 1. 

11 111 deeds are doubled with an evil word. 

14— iii. 2. 

12 Do not cast away an honest man for a villain's 

accusation. 22 — i. 3. 

13 There's not one wise man among twenty that will 

praise himself. 6 — v. 2. 

* 2 Tim. iii. 13. 



310 APHORISMS. 

14 Small things make base men proud. 22 — iv. 1. 

15 Who seeks, and will not take, when once 'tis 

offer'd, 
Shall never find it more. 30 — ii. 7. 

16 Tears show their love, but want their remedies. 

17— iii. 3. 

17 They, that dally nicely with words, may quickly 

make them wanton. 4— iii. 1. 

18 Heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs. 

23— iii. 3. 

19 They well deserve to have, 

That know the strong'st and surest way to get. 

17— iii. 3. 

20 Mock not flesh and blood 

With solemn reverence. 17 — iii. 2. 

21 Things may serve long, but not serve ever. 

11— ii. 2. 

22 One drunkard loves another of the name. 

8— iv. 3. 

23 God the best maker of all marriages. 20 — v. 2. 

24 Small cheer, and great welcome, makes a merry 

feast.* 14 — iii. 1. 

25 Manhood is call'd foolery, when it stands 
Against a falling fabric. 28 — iii. 1. 

26 Let instructions enter 

Where folly now possesses. 31 — i. 6. 

27 A madman's epistles are no gospels. 4 — v. 1. 

28 Devils soonest tempt, resembling spirits of light. 

8— iv. 3. 

29 How poor an instrument 

May do a noble deed ! 30 — v. 2. 

30 A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross. 

9— ii. 7. 

* " Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox 
and hatred therewith." 



APHORISMS. 311 

31 What's gone, and what's past help, 

Should be past grief. 13 — iii. 2. 

32 It is religion, that doth make vows kept. 

16— iii. 1. 

33 A crafty knave does need no broker. 22 — i. 2. 

34 Young blood will not obey an old decree. 

8— iv. 3. 

35 Graces challenge grace. 23 — iv. 8. 

36 Direct not him, whose way himself will choose. 

17— ii. 1. 

37 True nobility is exempt from fear. 22 — iv. 1. 

38 All offences come from the heart.* 20 — iv. 8. 

39 The will of man is by his "reason sway'd. 

7— ii. 3. 

40 The amity, that wisdom knits not, folly may 

easily untie. 26 — ii. 3. 

41 Be ever known to patience. 30— ^-iii. 6. 

42 True hope is swift, and flies with swallows' wings. 

24— v. 2. 

43 Pleasure, and action, make the hours seem short. 

37— ii. 3. 

44 Things sweet to taste, prove in digestion sour. 

17— i. 3. 

45 To weep, is to make less the depth of grief. 

23— ii. 1. 

46 Conscience is a thousand swords. 24 — v. 2. 

47 Every cloud engenders not a storm. 23 — v. 3. 

48 Truth hath a quiet breast. 17 — i. 3. 

49 Unquiet meals make ill digestions. 14 — v. 1. 

50 Things ill got had ever bad success. 23 — ii. 2. 

51 Divorce not wisdom from your honour. 

19— i. 1. 

* Matt. xv. 18, 19. 



312 APHORISMS. 

52 It is a sin to be a mocker. 9 — i. 2. 

53 Some innocents 'scape not the thunder-bolt. 

30 — ii. 5. 

54 Seek not a scorpion's nest. 22 — iii. 2. 

55 Society is no comfort 

To one not sociable. 31 — iv. 2. 

56 Past all shame, so past all truth. 13 — iii. 2. 

57 Every one can master a grief, but he that has it. 

6— iii. 2. 

58 He* that will have a cake out of the wheat, must 

tarry the grinding.* 26 — i. 1. 

59 So Judas kiss'd his Master ; 

And cried — all hail ! when as he meant — all 
harm. 23— v. 7. 

60 Against the blown rose may they stop their nose,. 
That kneel'd unto the buds. 30 — iii. 11.. 

61 Pleasure and revenge 
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voicer 
Of any true decision. 26" — ii- 2; 

62 Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of 

blame. 24 — v. 1. 

63 An English courtier may be wise, 

And never see the Louvre.f 25 — i. 3. 

64 What cannot be avoided, 
'Twere childish weakness to lament or fear. 

23— v. 4 

65 Ignorance is the curse of God, 
Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. 

22— iv. 7. 

66 An hypocrite, 
Is good in nothing but in sight. 33 — i. 1. 

* Grinding — the bolting, the leavening, the kneading, the making 

•of the cake, the heating of the oven, and" the baking; nay, you must 

stay the cooling too, or you may chance to burn your lips. 

t A palace at Paris. 



APHORISMS. 313 

67 Vice repeated, is like the wand'ring wind, 
Blows dust* in others' eyes. 33 — i. 1. 

68 Those that with haste will make a mighty fire, 
Begin it with weak straws. 29 — i. 3. 

69 Great griefs medicine the less. 31 — iv. 2. 

70 Great men have reaching hands. 22 — iv. 7. 

. 71 An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told. 

24— iv. 4. 

■ 

72 Dread curses — like the sun 'gainst glass, 

Or like an overcharged gun — recoil. 22 — iii. 2. 

73 Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant 
More learned than their ears. 28 — iii. 2. 

. 74 Wishers were ever fools. 30 — iv. 13. 

75 'Tis better playing with a lion's whelp, 

Than with an old one dying. 30 — iii. 11. 

76 Achievement is command ; ungain'd, beseech.j 

26— i. 2. 

77 What is the trust or strength of foolish man 1 

21— iii. 2. 
j 78 Never anger 

Made good guard for itself. 30 — iv. 1. 

79 A beggar's book 

Out worths a noble's blood. 1 25 — i. 1. 

80 The harder match'd, the greater victory. 

23— v. 1. 

81 There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd. 

30— i. 1. 

82 Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts. 

22— i. 2. 

83 Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing. 

26— i. 2. 

84 Friendly counsel cuts off many foes. 21— iii. 1. 

* That is, which blows dust. 

t Men, after possession, become our commanders ; before it, they 
are our supplicants. 

X That is, the literary qualifications of a bookish beggar are more 
prized than the high descent of hereditary greatness. 

27 



314 APHORISMS. 

85 Let that be left 

Which leaves itself. 30 — iii. 9. 

86 Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.* 

28— ii. 1. 

87 Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss. 

21— iv. 3. 

88 The present eye praises the present object. 

26— iii. 3. 

89 Keep where there is wit stirring, and leave the 
faction of fools. 26 — ii. 1. 

90 High events strike those that make them. 

30— v. 2. 

91 Few love to hear the sins they love to act. 

33— i. 1. 

92 Take all the swift advantage of the hours. 

24— iv. 1. 

93 Men ne'er spend their fury on a child. 23 — v. 5. 

94 When workmen strive to do better than well, 
They do confound their skill in covetousness. 

16— iv. 2. 

95 A sentence is but a cheverilf glove to a good wit; 

how quickly the wrong side may be turned out- 
ward ! 4 — iii. 1. 

96 If one should be a prey, how much the better 
To fall before the lion, than the wolf) 4 — iii. 1. 

97 The man, that once did sell the lion's skin 
While the beast lived, was kill'd with hunting 

him. 20— iv. 3. 

98 Where fair is not, praise cannot mend the brow. 

8— iv. 1. 

99 He is but the counterfeit of a man, who hath not 
the life of a man. 18 — v. 4. 

100 When law can do no right, 
Let it be lawful, that law bar no wrong. 

16— iii. 1. 

* Isa. i. 3. f Kid. 



APHORISMS. 315 

101 A scar nobly got, or a noble scar, is a good livery 

of honour. 11 — iv. 5. 

102 If he be sick 
With joy, he will recover without physic. 

19— iv. 4. 

103 There's small choice in rotten apples. 

12— i. 1. 

104 Many can brook the weather, that love not the 

wind. 8 — iv. 2. 

105 The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs 

of Apollo. 8— v. 2. 

106 The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet. 

11— v. 3. 

107 Short-lived wits do wither as they grow. 

8— ii. 1. 

103 The better part of valour is — discretion. 

18— v. 4. 

109 They sell the pasture now, to buy the horse. 

20 — ii. Chorus. 

110 Time is the old justice, that examines all of- 

fenders. 10 — iv. 1. 

111 He, that is giddy, thinks the world turns round. 

12— v. 2. 

112 Headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe. 

14— ii. 1. 

113 Melancholy is the nurse of frenzy. 

12 — Induction, 2. 

114 'Tis time to fear, when tyrants seem to^kiss. 

33— i. 2. 

115 Self-love is not so vile a sin 

As self-neglecting.* 20 — ii. 4. 

116 Suspicion shall be all stuck full of eyes. 

18— v. 2. 

* This would be true if self-low did not lead into self neglect. 
False estimation, as vanity, or over-estimation, as pride, leads to 
neglect of the virtues and most valuable attainments, which is self 
in the highest sense. Self-respect, Vamour de soi, is admirably dis- 
tinguished by Rousseau from Vamour prop re, the injurious and nar- 
row love of self. 



316 APHORISMS. 

117 War is no strife, 

To the dark house,* and the detested wife. 

11— ii. 3. 

118 We cannot hold mortality's strong hand. 

16— iv. 2. 

11.9 In delay there lies no plenty. 4 — ii. 3. 

120 Let the end try the man. 19 — ii. 2. 

121 It is an heretic that makes the fire, 

Not he, which burns in't. 13 — ii. 3. 

122 An honest man is able to speak for himself, when 

a knave is not. 19— v. 1. 

123. Strong reasons make strong actions. 16 — iii. 4. 

124 A rotten case abides no handling. 19 — iv. 1. 

125 Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will 

plod. 20— ii. 1. 

126 A lady's verily is 

As potent as a lord's. 13 — i. 2. 

127 Construe the times to their necessities.! 

19— iv. 1. 

128 He that steeps his safety in true blood, 
Shall find but bloody safety, and untrue. 

10— iii. 4. 

129 If ladies be but young and fair, 

They have the gift to know it. 10 — ii. 7. 

130 Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief. 

8— v. 2. 

131 The whirligig of time brings in his revenges. 

4— v. 1. 

132 Who will not change a raven for a dove 1 

7— ii. 3. 

133 A good conscience will make any possible satis- 

faction. 19 — v. 5. 

* The house made gloomy by discontent. (See Prov.) 
t i. e. Judge of what is done in these times according, to the exi- 
gencies that overrule us. 



APHORISMS. 317 

134 Gently to hear, kindly to judge. 

20 — i. Chorus. 

135 Abstinence engenders maladies. 8 — iy. 3- 

136 Journeys end in lovers meeting. 4 — ii. 3. 

137 What is yours to bestow, is not yours to reserve. 

4— i. 5. 

138 Death remember'd should be like a mirror, 
Who tells us, life's but breath. 33 — i. 1. 

139 Cupid's butt-shaft* is too hard for Hercules' 

club ; his disgrace is to be called boy ; but his 
glory is to subdue men. 8 — i. 2. 

140 Oaths 

Are words, and poor conditions. 11 — iv. 2. 

141 We must be gentle now we are gentlemen. 

13— v. 2. 

142 Whence honour but of danger wins a scar, 

As oft it loses all.f 11 — iii. 2. 

143 Death and danger dog the heels of worth. 

11— iii. 4. 

144 Justice always whirls in equal measure. 

8— iv. 3. 

145 Sow'd cockle reap'd no corn. 8 — iv. 3. 

146 He is well paid that is well satisfied. 9 — iv. 1. 

147 We prove 
Much in our vows, but little in our love. 

4 — ii. 4. 

148 Turtles pair, 

That never mean to part. 13 — iv. 3. 

149 The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet. 

17— i. 3. 

* Arrow to shoot at butts with. 

t The sense is, From that abode, where all the advantage that 
honour usually reaps from the danger it rushes upon, is only a scar 
in testimony of its bravery ; as, on the other hand, it is often the 
cause of losing all, even life itself. 

27* 



318 APHORISMS. 

150 Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere 

folly! 10— ii. 7. 

151 Judgment, and reason, have been grand jury- 

men, since before Noah was a sailor. 4 — iii. 2. 

152 The weakest kind of fruit 

Drops earliest to the ground. 9 — iv. 1. 

153 Praising what is lost, 

Makes the remembrance dear. 11 — v. 3. 

154 We are time's subjects. 19— i. 3, 

155 Mirth cannot move a soul in agony. 8 — v. 2. 

156 The grappling vigour and rough frown of war 
Is cold in amity and painted peace. 16 — iii. 1. 

157 The blood more stirs, 

To rouse a lion than to start a hare. 18 — i. 3. 

158 Fears attend 

The steps of wrong. 16 — iv. 2. 

159 Grief makes one hour ten. 17 — i. 3. 

160 Rage must be withstood : 

Lions make leopards tame. 17 — i. 1. 

161 I like not fair terms,* and a villain's mind. 

9— i. 3. 

162 He's no man on whom perfections wait, 
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate. 

33— i. 1. 

163 Sudden sorrow 

Serves to say thus, — Some good thing comes 
to-morrow. 19 — iv. 2. 

164 What's to come, is still unsure. 4 — ii. 3. 

165 Some, Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps. 

6— iii. 1. 

* Kind words, good language. 



APHORISMS. 319 

166 'Tis seldom, when the bee doth leave her comb 
In the dead carrion. 19 — iv. 4. 

167 Fly pride, says the peacock. 14 — iv. 3. 

168 Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower 

safety. 18 — ii. 3. 

169 In poison there is physic. 19 — i. 1. 

170 Lovers ever run before the clock. 9 — ii. 6. 

171 Who dares not stir by day, must walk by night. 

16— i. 1. 

172 Greatness knows itself. 18 — iv. 3. 

173 Ourselves we do not owe.* 4 — i. 5. 

174 Men, that stumble at the threshold, 

Are well foretold — that danger lurks within. 

23— iv. 7. 

175 The bird, that hath been limed in a bush, 
With trembling wings misdoubtethf every bush. 

23— v. 6. 

176 And when the lion fawns upon the lamb, 
The lamb will never cease to follow him. 

23— iv. 8. 

177 A little fire is quickly trodden out ; 
Which, being suffer'd rivers cannot quench. 

23— iv. 8. 

178 Drones suck not eagles' blood, but rob bee- 

hives. 22 — iv. 1. 

179 When the fox hath once got in his nose, 
He'll soon find means to make the body follow. 

23— iv. 7. 

180 Raging wind blows up incessant showers, 
And when the rage allays, the rain begins. 

23— i. 4. 

181 'Tis but a base ignoble mind, 

That mounts no higher than a bird can soar. 

22— ii. 1. 

* Own, possess. 

■\ To misdoubt, is to suspect danger, to fear. 



320 APHORISMS. 

182 Nice customs curt'sy to great kings. 20 — v. 2. 

183 A staff is quickly found to beat a dog. 

22— iii. 1. 

184 Soldiers' stomachs always serve them well. 

21— ii. 3. 

185 'Tis beauty, that doth oft make women proud ; 
'Tis virtue, that doth make them most admired ; 
'Tis government* that makes them seem divine. 

* " ' 23-i. 4. 

186 Far from her nest the lapwing cries away.f 

14— iv. 2. 

187 Woe to that land, that's govern'd by a child .!{ 

24— ii. 3. 

188 Man and birds are fond of climbing high. 

22— ii. 1. 

189 Unbidden guests 

Are often welcomest, when they are gone. 

21— ii. 2. 

190 Thersites* body is as good as Ajax, 

When neither are alive. 31 — iv. 2. 

191 Who does i' the wars more than his captain can, 
Become's his captain's captain. § 30 — iii. 1. 

192 By medicines life may be prolong'd, yet death 
Will seize the .doctor too. 31 — v. 5. 

193 The mind shall banquet, though the body pine. 
Fat paunches have lean plates ; and dainty bits 
Make rich the ribs, but bank'rout quite the wits. 

8— i. 1. 

194 Celerity is never more admired, 

Than by the negligent. 30 — iii. 7. 

195 It is war's prize to take all vantages. 

196 A woman impudent and mannish grown 

Is not more loath'd than an effeminate man. 

26— iii. 3. 

* Government in the language of the time signified evenness of 
temper, and decency of manners. 

Who crieth most where her nest is not. J Eccles. x. 16. 

§Too much fame is dangerous to one in an inferior command. 



APHORISMS. 321 

197 Honesty will wear the surplice of humility over 

the black gown of a big heart. 11 — i. 3. 

198 'Tis pride that pulls the country down. 

37— ii. 3. 

199 " Nothing almost sees miracles, 

But misery.* 34 — ii. 2. 

200 Nature wants stuff 

To vie strange forms with fancy. 30 — v. 2. 

201 A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear. 

36— iv. 2. 

202 Men's vows are women's traitors ! 31— iii. 4. 

203 The fool slides o'er the ice that you should 

break. 26— iii. 3. 

204 The nature of bad news infects the teller. 

30— i. 2. 

205 Fools are not mad folks. 31 — ii. 3. 

206 Short summers lightlyf have a forward spring. 

24— iii. 1. 

207 Security gives way to conspiracy. 29 — ii. 3. 

208 Opinion's but a fool, that makes us scan 
The outward habit by the inward man.| 

33— ii. 2. 

209 When good manners shall lie all in one or two 

men's hands, and they unwashed too, 'tis a foul 
tiling. 35 — i. 5. 

210 'Tis not for gravity to play at cherry-pit§ with 

Satan. 4 — iii. 4. 

211 Time must friend, or end. 26 — i. 2. 

212 What is the city, but the people ? 28— iii. 1. 

* The quarto reads : 

Nothing almost sees my wrack 

But misery, 
f Commonly. 

X i. e. That makes us scan the inward man by the outward habit.^ 
§ A play among boys. 



322 APHORISMS. 

213 Truth's a dog- that must to kennel ; he must be 

whipped out, when Lady, the brach,* may stand 
by the fire and stink. 34 — i. 4. 

214 All that follow their noses, are led by their eyes, 

but blind men. 34 — ii. 4. 

215 A custom 

More honour'd in the breach, than the observ- 
ance. 36 — i. 4. 

216 Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our 

own. 36 — iii. 2. 

217 Great men should drink with harnessf on their 

throats. 27— i. 2. 

218 Opinion, a sovereign mistress of effects. 

37— i. 3. 

219 Nature must , obey necessity. 29 — iv. 3. 

220 Trust not to rotten planks. 30— iii. 7. 

221 Guiltiness will speak 

Though tongues were out of use. 37 — v. L 

222 Knavery's plain face is never seen, till used. 

37— ii. 1. 

223 Him in eye, 

Still him in praise. 25 — i. 1. 

224 A man may see how this world goes, with no 

•eyes. Look with thine ears. 34 — iv. 6. 

225 If money g© before, all ways do lie open. 

3— ii. 2. 

226 Time is a very bankrupt, and owes more than 

he's worth, to season. $ 14 — iv. 2. 

227 The arms are fair, 
When the intent of bearing them is just. 

18— v. 2. 

228 There is no fettering of authority. 11 — ii. 3. 

* Bitch-hound. t Armour. 

X A most deeply philosophical reproof on mankind for their tardy 
progress in knowledge, speculative and moral. 



APHORISMS. 323 

229 No visor does become black villany, 

So well as soft and tender flattery. 33 — iv. 4. 

230 Who makes the fairest show, means most deceit. 

33— i. 4. 

231 Let them obey that know not how to rule. 

22— v. 2. 

232 Fire cools fire,. 

Within the scorched veins of one new burn'd. 

16— iii. L 

233 Advantage is a better soldier, than rashness. 

20— iii. 6. 

234 'Tis a good hearing, when children are toward ; 
But a harsh hearing, when women are froward. 

12— v. 2. 

235 A victory is twice itself, when the achiever 

brings home full numbers. 6 — i. 1. 

236 To things of sale a seller's praise belongs. 

8— iv. a 

237 The sight of lovers feedeth those in love. 

10— iii. 4. 

238 Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers 

leisure ; 
Like doth quit like, and Measure still for Mea- 
sure. 5 — v. 1. 

239 Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere, 

18— v. 4. 

240 There is no love-broker in the world can more 

prevail in man's commendation with woman, 
than report of valour. 4 — iii. 2. 

241 A friend i* the court is better than a penny ire 

purse. 19 — v. 1. 

242 Pitchers have ears. 12 — iv. 4. 

243 The poor abuses of the time want countenance.* 

18— i. % 

* If abuses want comitenance, the misconduct of those who are- 
called great is too ready to give them. 



324 APHORISMS. 

244 Small curs are not regarded when they grin ; 
But great men tremble when the lion roars. 

22—iii. 1. 

245 Affection is not rated* from the heart. 

12— i. 1. 

246 Hercules himself must yield to odds ; 

And many strokes, though with a little axe, 
Hew down and fell the hardest-timber'd oak. 

22— ii. 1. 

247 All that glisters is not gold, 

Gilded tombs do worms infold. 9 — ii. 7. 

248 A crooked figure may 

Attest, in little place, a million. 20 — i. 1. 

249 Overflow of good converts to bad. 17 — v. 3. 

250 Wake not a sleeping wolf. 19 — i. 2. 

251 A counterfeit, which, being touch'd, and tried, 
Proves valueless. 16— iii. 1. 

252 The plants look up to heaven, from whence 
They have their nourishment. 33 — i. 2. 

253 To the latter end of a fray, and the beginning of 

a feast, 
Fits a dull fighter, and a keen guest. 18 — iv. 2. 

254 Time goes on crutches, till Love have all his 

rites. 6 — ii. 1. 

255 Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind : 
The thief doth fear each bush an officer. 

23— v. 6. 

256 Kindness, nobler ever than revenge. 10 — iv. 3. 

257 Do as adversaries do in law, 

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends. 

12— i. 2. 

258 He'll be physician, that should be the patient. 

26— ii. 3. 

* Driven out by chiding. 



APHORISMS. 325 

259 We call a nettle, but a nettle ; and 

The faults of fools, but folly. 28— ii. 1. 

260 Things in motion sooner catch the eye, 

Than what not stirs. 26 — iii. 3* 

261 Equality of two domestic powers 

Breeds scrupulous faction. 30 — i. 3. 

262 Coronets are stars, 

And, sometimes, falling ones. 25 — iv. 1~ 

263 We must take the current when it serves. 

Or lose our ventures. 29 — iv. 3. 

264 Stick to your journal course : the breach of 

custom 
Is breach of all.* 31 — iv. 2. 

265 Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks 

draw deep. 26 — ii. 3. 

266 They that have the voice of lions, and the act of 

hares, are they not monsters 1 26 — iii. 2. 

267 A friend should bear his friend's infirmities. 

29— iv. 3. 

268 Fortune knows, 

We scorn her most, when most she offers blows. 

30— iii. 9. 

269 Thanks, the exchequer of the poor. 17 — ii. 3. 

270 A stirring dwarf we do allowancef give 
Before a sleeping giant. 26 — ii. 3. 

271 The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy ;, 

his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure. 

26— ii. 3-, 

272 One sorrow never comes, but brings an heir, 
That may succeed as his inheritor. 33 — i. 4. 

273 Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is. 

26— i. 2, 

* Keep your daily course uninterrupted; if the stated plan of life- 
is once broken, nothing follows but confusion. 
t Approbation. 

28 



326 APHORISMS. 

274 Good words are better than bad strokes. 

29— v. 1. 

275 In time we hate that which we often fear. 

30— i. 3. 

276 Sweet love is food for fortune's tooth. 

26— iv. 5. 

277 The raven 

Chides blackness. 26 — ii. 3. 

278 Fortune brings in some boats, that are not 

steer'd. 31— iv. 3. 

279 Make not your thoughts your prisons. 

30— v. 2. 

280 To such as boasting show their scars, 

A mock is due. 26 — iv. 5. 

281 Love's reason's without reason. 31 — iv. 2. 

282 Few words to fair faith. 26— iii. 2. 

283 Britain's harts die flying, not our men. 

31— v. 3. 

284 To fear the worst, oft cures the worst. 

26— iii. 2. 

285 The best quarrels, in the heat, are cursed 

By those that feel their sharpness. 34 — v. 3. 

286 There is no time so miserable, but a man may 
be true. 27 — iv. 3. 

287 Let us be sacrificers, but no butchers. 

29— ii. 1. 

288 What is aught, but as 'tis valued ? 26— ii. 2. 

289 Be not peevish* found in great designs. 

24— iv. 4. 
29Q Our stomachs 

Will make what's homely, savoury. 31 — iii. 6. 

291 'Tis the sport, to have the engineer 

Hoist with his own petar.f 26 — iii. 4. 

* Foolish. j- Blown up with his own bomb. 



APHORISMS. 327 

292 Time is the nurse and breeder of all good. 

2— iii. 1. 

293 Stony limits cannot hold love out. 35 — ii. 2. 

294 The public body, — doth seldom 

Play the recanter. 27 — v. 2. 

295 The labour we delight in, physics pain. 

15— ii. 3. 

296 He that keeps nor crust nor crum, 

Weary of all, shall want some. 34 — i. 4. 

297 Discourse is heavy, fasting. 31 — iii. 6. 

293 We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee 
there's no labouring in the winter.* 34 — ii. 4. 

299 Use every man after his desert, and who shall 

'scape whipping? 36 — ii. 2. 

300 Revenges hunger for that food 

Which nature loathes. 27 — v. 5. 

301 Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose 
That you resolved to effect. 1 — iii. 3. 

302 Tyranny sways, not as it hath power, but as it 

is suffered. 34 — i. 2. 

303 When the day serves before black-corn er'd night, 
Find what thou want'st by free and offer'd light. 

27— v. 1. 

304 Let Hercules himself do what he may, 

The cat will mew, and dog will have his day. 

36— v. 1. 

305 Affect 

In honour honesty. 25 — i. 1. 

306 Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that, 
And manage it against despairing thoughts. 

2— iii. 1. 

307 Inconstancy falls off, ere it begins. 2 — v. 4. 

308 Nothing can come of nothing. 34 — i. 1. 

* Prov. vi, 6, and xxx. 25. 



328 APHORISMS. 

309 A solemn air, the best comforter 

To an unsettled fancy. 1 — v. 1. 

310 The hearts, of old, gave hands ; 
But our new heraldry is — hands, not hearts. 

37— iii. 4. 

311 Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. 

34—i.4. 

312 Security 

Is mortals' chiefest enemy. 15 — iii. 5. 

313 Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate; 
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate.* 

15— v. 4. 

314 Meat fills knaves, and wine heats fools. 

27— i. 1. 

315 The learned pate 

Ducks to the golden fool. 27 — iv. 3. 

316 Lovers break not hours, 
Unless it be to come before their time; 

So much they spur their expedition. 2 — v. 1. 

317 Happy, in that we are not over-happy ; 

On fortune's cap we are not the very button. 

36— ii. 2. 

318 He that has no house to put his head in, such 

may rail against great buildings. 27 — iii. 4. 

319 Serpents, who, though they feed 
On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed. 

33— i. 1. 

320 Gripe not at earthly joys. 33 — i. 1. 

321 Conversef with him that is wise, and says little. 

34— i. 4. 

322 The hand of little employment hath the daintier 

sense. 36 — v. 1. 

323 Love will not be spurr'd to what it loathes. 

2— v. 2. 

324 Ay and no, too, [is] no good divinity.J 34 — iv. 6. 

* Determine. f Keep company. J 2 Cor. i. 17—19. 



APHORISMS. 329 

325 He, that loves to be flattered, is worthy o' the 

flatterer. 27— i. 1. 

326 Men shut their doors against a setting sun. 

27— i. 2. 

327 Have more than thou showest, 
Speak less than thou knowest, 
Lend less than thou owest,* 
Learn more than thou trowest,f 

Set less than thou throwest. 34 — i. 4. 

328 Wisely weigh 

Our sorrow with our comfort. 1 — ii. 4. 

329 'Tis the strumpet's plague, 

To beguile many, and be beguiled by one. 

37— iv. 1. 

330 Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift. 

35— ii. 3. 

331 Receive what cheer you may; 

The night is long, that never finds the day. 

15— iv. 3. 

332 Sad hours seem long. 35 — i. 1. 

333 One fire burns out another's burning, 

One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish ; 
Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning ; 
One desperate grief cures with another's lan- 
guish. 35 — i. 2. 

334 Men in rage strike those that wish them best. 

37— ii. 3. 

335 Dull not device by coldness and delay. 37 — ii. 3. 

336 We must speak by the card,| or equivocation 

will undo us. 36 — v. 1. 

337 One may smile, and smile, and be a villain. 

36— i. 5. 

338 Men do their broken weapons rather use, 
Than their bare hands. 37 — i. 3. 

* Ownest, possessest. t Believest. 

X By the compass, or chart of direction. 

28* 



330 APHORISMS. 

339 He jests at scars, that never felt a wound. 

35— ii. 2. 

340 Time and the hour* runs through the roughest 

day. 15 — i. 3. 

341 To wisdom he's a fool that will not yield. 

33 — ii. 4. 

342 One sin another doth provoke. 33 — i. 1. 

343 That, sir, which serves and seeks for gain, 

And follows but for form, 
Will pack, when it begins to rain, 
And leave thee in the storm. 37 — ii. 4. 

344 Who by repentance is not satisfied, 

Is nor of heaven, nor earth.f 2 — v. 4. 

345 The devil hath power 

To assume a pleasing shape.}: 36 — ii. 2. 

346 Many do keep their chambers, are not sick. 

27— iii. 4. 

-347 Vaulting ambition o'erleaps itself. 15 — i. 7. 

348 Let go thy hold, when a great wheel runs down 
a hill, lest it break thy neck with following it ; 
but the great one that goes up the hill, let him 
draw thee after. 34 — ii. 4. 

849 Venus smiles not in a house of tears. 35 — iv. 1. 

350 Nought's had, all's spent, 
Where our desire is got without content. 

15— iii. 2. 

351 Tempt not a desperate man. 35 — v. 3. 

352 Delight 

No less in truth, than life. 15 — iv. 3. 

353 Seeking to give 

Losses their remedies. 34 — ii. 2. 

*.-Time and opportunity. 

t For these one pleased ; 

By penitence the Eternal's wrath's appeased. 
X 2 Cor. xi.13, 14. 



APHORISMS. 331 

354 Words are words : I never yet did hear 

That the bruised heart was pierced* through the 
ear.f 37— i. 3. 

355 Come not between the dragon and his wrath. 

34— i. 1. 

356 Nature her custom holds, 

Let shame say what it will. 36 — iv. "/. 

357 Wisely and slow : . They stumble that run fast. 

35— ii. 3. 

358 Madmen have no ears. 35 — iii. 3. 

359 Things without remedy, 

Should be without regard. 15 — iii. 2. 

360 Feasts are too proud to give thanks to the gods. 

27— i. 2. 

361 O, what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults 
Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a-year ! 

3— iii. 4. 

362 The private wound is deepest. 2 — v. 4. 

363 Dry sorrow drinks our blood. 35 — iii. 5. 

364 Every grizej of fortune 

Is smooth'd by that below. 27 — iv. 3. 

365 Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits. 

2— i. 1. 

366 Wisdom sees, those men 
Blush not in actions blacker than the night, 
Will shun no course to keep them from the light. 

33— i. 1. 

367 Crimes, like lands, 

Are not inherited. 27 — v. 5. 

368 Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill. 

35— iii. 1. 

369 Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. 

1— ii. 2. 

370 There's warrant in that theft, 

Which steals itself, when there's no mercy left. 

15— ii. 3. 

* Pieced, made whole. 

f i. e. That the words of sorrow were ever cured by the words of 
consolation. % Step, degree. 



332 APHORISMS. 

371 The appurtenance of welcome is fashion and 

ceremony. 36 — ii. 2. 

372 When griping grief the heart doth wound, 
And doleful damps* the mind oppress, 
Then music, with her silver sound, 
With speedy help doth lend redress. 

35— iv. 5. 

373 Present fears 

Are less than horrible imaginings, j 15 — i. 3.. 

374 A good man's fortune may grow out at heels. 

34— ii. 2. 

375 The younger rises, when the old doth fall. 

34— iii. 3. 

376 Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud. 

35— ii. 2. 

377 Women may fall, when there's no strength in 

men. 35 — ii. 3. 

378 False face must hide what the false heart doth 

know. 15 — i. 7. 

379 The law is past depth 

To those that, without heed, do plunge into it. 

27— iii. 5. 

380 Why, let the strucken deer go weep, 

The hart ungalled play : 
For some must watch, while some must sleep ; 
Thus runs the world away. 36 — iii. 2. 

381 Honour is an essence that's not seen ; 
They have it very oft, that have it not. 

37— iv. 1. 

382 The rarer action is, 

In virtue than in vengeance. 1 — v. 1. 

383 Conceit is still derived 

From some fore-father grief. 17 — ii. 2. 

384 Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. 

15— ii. 1. 

* Dumps were heavy mournful tunes (doleful ditties). 

t Present fears are fears of things present, which every man has 
found to be less thanjthe imagination presents them, while the ob- 
jects are yet distant. 






APHORISMS. 333 



385 That thought is bounty's foe ; 
Being free* itself, it thinks all others so. 

27— ii. 2. 

386 Advantage doth ever cool 

In the absence of the needer. 28 — iv. 1. 

387 Let mischance be slave to patience. 35 — v. 3. 

388 Nor ask advice of any other thought 

But faithfulness and courage. 33 — i. 1. 

389 Things of like value, differing in the owners, 
Are prized by their masters. f 27 — i. 1. 

390 Some falls are means the happier to arise. 

31— iv. 2. 

391 ' Things, bad begun, make strong themselves by 

ill. 15— iii. 2. 

392 Wash off gross acquaintance. 4 — ii. 5. 

393 In a false quarrel there is no true valour. 

6— v. 1. 

394 Woe, that too late repents. 34 — i. 4. 

395 The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, 
That it had its head bit off by its young. 

34— i. 4. 

396 He, that is strucken blind, cannot forget 
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost. 

35— i. 1. 

397 'Tis much pride, 

For fair without the fair within to hide. 

35— i. 3. 

398 Nature's tears are reason's merriment. 

35— iv. 5. 

399 To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one 

man picked out of ten thousand. 36 — ii. 2. 

400 To know a man well, were to know himself. 

36— v. 2. 

* Liberal, not parsimonious. 

t Are rated according to the esteem in which their possessor is 
held. 



334 APHORISMS. 

401 When devils will their blackest sins put on, 
They do suggest* at first with heavenly shows. 

37— ii. 3. 

402 Full oft we see 

Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly. 

11— i. 1. 

403 'Twas never merry world, 

Since lowly feigning was call'd compliment. 

4 — iii. 1. 

404 That life is better life, past fearing death, 
Than that which lives to fear. 5 — v. 1. 

405 Bootless speed ! 

When cowardice pursues, and valour flies. 

7— ii. 2. 

406 Thus can the demi-god, Authority, 

Make us pay down for our offence by weight. 

5— i. 3. 

407 Sorrow ends not, when it seemeth done. 

17— i. 2. 

408 Sin, gathering head, 

Shall break into corruption. 19 — iii. 1. 

409 Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo, 
The numbers of the fear'd. 19 — iii. 1. 

410 Tyrant's fears 

Decrease not, but grow faster than their years.f 

33— i. 2. 

411 Happier is he that has no friend to feed, 

Than such as do even enemies exceed. 27 — i. 2. 

412 The swallow follows not summer more wil- 

lingly . . . nor more willingly leaves winter ; 
such summer birds are men. 27 — iii. 6. 

413 Opinion crowns 

With an imperial voice. 26 — i. 3. 

414 To be a queen in bondage, is more vile, 

Than is a slave in base servility. 21 — v. 3. 

* Tempt.— 2 Cor. xi. 14. 

t Their suspicions outgrow their years; a circumstance sufficient- 
ly natural to veteran tyrants. 



APHORISMS. 335 

415 Rhymes are guards on wanton Cupid's hose. 

8— iv. 3. 

416 Keep a gamester from the dice, and a good stu- 

dent from his book, and it is wonderful. 

3— iii. 1. 

417 Too much to know, is, to know nought but 

fame. 8 — i. 1. 

418 That's a valiant flea, that dare eat his breakfast 

on the lip of a lion. 20 — iii. 7. 

419 Be in eye of every exercise. 2 — i. 3. 

420 Obedience bids, I should not bid again. 

17— i. 1. 

421 The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins 
Remorse from power. 29 — ii. 1. 

422 Who should succeed the father, but the son ? 

23— ii. 2. 

423 A giving hand, though foul, shall have fair 

praise. 8 — iv. 1. 

424 It is the show and seal of nature's truth, 
Where love's strong passion is impress'd in 

youth. 11— i. 3. 

425 Do not cry, havoc, when you should but hunt 
With modest warrant. - 28 — iii. 1. 

426 Rich honesty dwells like a miser, in a poor 

house ; as your pearl, in your foul oyster. 

10— v. 4. 

427 I had as lief have a reed that will do me no ser- 

vice, as a partizan* I could not heave. 

30— ii. 7. 

428 Good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be 

well used. 37 — ii. 3. 

429 Let's write good angel on the devil's horn, 
'Tis not the devil's crest. f 5 — ii. 4. 

* Pike. 

\ Though we should write good angel on the devil's horn, it will 
not change his nature, so as to give him a right to wear that crest. 



336 APHORISMS. 

430 Happy are they that hear their detractions, and 

can put them to mending. 6 — ii. 3. 

431 Murder, though it have no tongue, will speak 
With most miraculous organ. 36 — ii. 2. 

432 Woe doth the heavier sit, 
Where it perceive s it is but faintly borne. 

17— i. 3. 

433 Men's evil manners live in brass ; their virtues 
We write in water. 25 — iv. 2. 

434 When rich villains have need of poor ones, poor 

ones may make what price they will. 6 — iii. 3. 

435 At seventeen years many their fortunes seek ; 
But at fourscore, it is too late a week. 

10— ii. 3. 

436 Foul deeds will rise, 

Though all the earth o'erwhelm them to men's 
eyes.* 36 — i. 2. 

437 One woe doth tread upon another's heel, 

So fast they follow. 36 — iv. 7. 

438 Time, that takes survey of all the world, 
Must have a stop. 18 — v. 4. 

439 It is as easy to count atomies, f as to resolve the 

propositions of a lover. 10 — iii. 2. 

440 Affection, 
Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood 

Of what it likes, or loathes. 9 — iv. 1. 

441 Then all too late comes counsel to be heard, 
Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard. 

17— ii. 1. 

442 Virtue cannot so innoculate our old stock, but 

we shall relish of it. 36 — iii. 1. 

443 'Tis fond \ to wail inevitable strokes, 

As 'tis to laugh at them. 28 — iv. 1. 

444 Thieves for their robbery have authority, 
When judges steal themselves. 5 — ii. 2. 

* Numb, xxxii. 23. t Motes. \ Foolish. 



APHORISMS. 337 

445 It is a great sin, to swear unto a sin ; 
But greater sin to keep a sinful oath. 

33— v. 3. 

446 Borrow'd passion stands for true old woe. 

33— iv. 4. 

447 Worse than the sun in March, 

This praise doth nourish agues. 38 — iv. 6. 

Nor seek for danger 
Where there's no profit. 31 — iv. 2 . 

Thoughts are no subjects ; 
Intents but merely thoughts. 5 — v. 1. 

Scorn at first, makes after-love the more. 

2— iii. 1. 

O miserable age ! Virtue is not regarded in 
handicrafts-men. 22 — iv. 2; 

Fishes live in the sea, as men do a-land ; the 
great ones eat up the little ones. 33 — ii. 1. 

453 O, how full of briars is this working-day world ! 

10— i. 3. 

454 'Tis safer to be that which we destroy, 
Than, by destruction, dwell in doubtful joy. 

15— iii. 2. 

455 Here's such ado to make no stain a stain, 

As passes colouring. 13 — ii. 2. 

456 Some are born great, some achieve greatness, 

and some have greatness thrust upon them. 

4— ii. 5. 

457 Merry larks are ploughman's clocks. 8 — v. 2. 

458 I run before my horse to market. 24 — i. 1. 

459 To business that we love, we rise betime, 

And go to it with delight. 30 — iv. 4. 

460 Brevity is the soul of wit, 

And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes. 

36 — ii. 2. 

461 A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of 

29 



338 APHORISMS. 

a king ; and eat of the fish that hath fed of that 
worm. 36 — iv. 3. 

462 What need the bridge much broader than the 

flood? 6— i. 1. 

463 The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good 

and ill together. 11 — iv. 3. 

464 Fortune reigns in gifts of the world, not in the 

lineaments of nature. 10 — i. 2. 

465 Slander lives upon succession ; 

For ever housed, where it once gets possession. 

34— iii. 1. 

466 Every fault's condemn'd, ere it be done. 

5— ii. 2. 

467 'Gainst knave and thief men shut their gate. 

4— v. 1. 

468 It is not meet 

That every nice* offence should bear his com- 
ment. 29— iv. 3. 

469 Not everf 

The justice and the truth o' the question carries 
The due o' the verdict with it. 25 — v. 1. 

470 We are not the first, 

Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the 
worst. 34 — v. 3. 

471 To offend and judge, are distinct offices, 

And of opposed natures. 9 — ii. 9. 

472 All's not offence that indiscretion finds, 

And dotage terms so. 34 — ii. 4. 

473 Feasts 

In every mess have folly, and the feeders 
Digest it with a custom. 13 — iv. 3. 

474 Though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is 

oft led by the nose with gold. 13 — iv. 3. 

* Trifling. t Always. 



APHORISMS. 339 

475 'Tis safer to 

Avoid what's grown than question how 'tis born. 

13 — i. 2. 

476 Men, that make 
Envy, and crooked malice, nourishment, 

Dare bite the best. 25 — v. 2. 

477 Pity is the virtue of the law, 

And none but tyrants use it cruelly. 27 — iii. 5. 

478 The nighty purpose never is o'ertook, 

Unless the deed go with it. 15 — iv. 1. 

479 A good and virtuous nature may recoil, 

In an imperial charge.* 15 — iv. 3. 

480 When did friendship take 

A breed for barren metalf of his friend 1 

9— i. 3. 

481 Falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent ; 
Three things that women highly hold in hate. 

2— iii. 2. 

482 How much better is it to weep at joy, than to 

joy at weeping 1 6 — i. 1. 

483 Our very eyes 

Are sometimes like our judgments, blind. 

31— iv. 2. 

484 Foolery does walk about the orb, like the sun ; 

it shines every where. 4 — iii. 1. 

485 Love yourself: and in that love, 

Not unconsider'd leave your honour. 25 — i. 2. 

486 The art of our necessities is strange, 

That can make vile things precious. 34 — iii. 2. 

487 To be wise, and love, 

Exceeds man's might. 26 — iii. 2. 

488 We know what we are, but know not what we 

may be.f 36 — iv. 5. 

* i. e. A virtuous mind may recede from goodness in the execu- 
tion of a royal commission. t Interest. 

X Of the truth of this Hazael, king of Syria, affords a striking in- 
stance. See 2 Kings, viii. 12, 13. 



340 APHORISMS. 

489 Weariness 

Can snore upon the flint, when restive sloth 
Finds the down pillow hard. 31 — iii. 6. 

490 Who cannot be crushed with a plot ? 11 — iv. 3. 

491 When sorrows come, they come not single spies, 
But in battalions. 36 — iv. 5. 

492 We are such stuff 

As dreams are made of, and our little life 

Is rounded with a sleep. 1 — iv. 1. 

493 What is he for a fool, that betroths himself to 

unquietness 1 6 — i. 3. 

494 Reputation; — oft got without merit, and lost 

without deserving-. 37 — ii. 3. 

495 Briefly die their joys, 

That place them on the truth of girls and boys. 

31— v. 5. 

496 We are made to be no stronger 

Than faults may shake our frames. 5 — ii. 4. 

497 When good-will is show'd, though it come too 

short, 
The actor may plead pardon. 30 — ii. 5. 

498 A double blessing is a double grace. 36 — i. 3. 

499 Where the greater malady is fix'd, 

The lesser is scarce felt. 34 — iii. 4. 

500 All difficulties are but easy when they are 

known. 5 — iv. 2. 

501 Notes of sorrow, out of tune, are worse 

Than priests and fanes that lie. 31 — iv. 2. 

502 Put armour on thine ears, and on thine eyes. 

27— iv. 3. 

503 More pity, that the eagle should be mew'd,* 
While kites and buzzards prey at liberty. 

24— i. 1. 

* Confined. 



APHORISMS. 341 

504 The sweat of industry would dry, and die, 

But for the end it works to. 31 — iii. 6. 

505 Men, that hazard all, 

Do it in hope of fair advantages. 9 — ii. 7. 

506 Every present time doth boast itself 

Above a better, gone. 13 — v. 1. 

507 Hope to joy, is little less in joy, 

Than hope enjoy'd. 17 — ii. 3. 

508 Be that thou know'st thou art, and then thou 

art 
As great as that thou fear'st. 4 — v. 1. 

509 Fashion wears out more apparel than the man. 

6— iii. 3. 

510 A great man's memory may outlive his life half 

a year. 36 — iii. 2. 

511 We are born to do benefits. 27 — i. 2. 

512 Conceit* in weakest bodies strongest works. 

36— iii. 4. 

513 To show an unfelt sorrow, is an office 

Which the false man does easy. 15 — ii. 3. 

514 What good condition can a treaty find 

F the part that is at mercy 1 28 — i. 10. 

515 Though fortune, visible an enemy, 
Should chase us ; power no jot 

Hath she to change our loves. 13 — v. 1. 

516 Lovers swear more performance than they are 

able, and yet reserve an ability that they never 
perform ; vowing more than the perfection of 
ten, and discharging less than the tenth part of 
one. 26-=— iii. 2. 

517 A tardiness in nature, 
Which often leaves the history unspoke, 

That it intends to do. 34 — i. 1. 

* Apprehension. 

29* 



342 APHORISMS. 

518 The love that follows us, sometimes is our 

trouble, 
Which still we thank as love. 15 — i. 6. 

519 Let thy fair wisdom, not thy passion, sway. 

4 — iv. 1. 

520 To the noble mind, 

Rich gifts wax poor, when givers prove unkind. 

36— iii. 1. 

521 When once our grace we have forgot, 
Nothing goes right. 5 — iv. 4. 

522 Then we do sin against our own estate, 
When we may profit meet, and come too late. 

27— v. 1. 

523 What simple thief brags of his own attaint 1 

14— iii. 2. 

524 Beggary is valiant. 22 — iv. 2. 

525 Report is fabulous and false. 21 — ii. 3. 

526 Things, that are past, are done. 30 — i. 2. 

527 A little snow, tumbled about, 

Anon becomes a mountain. 16 — iii. 4. 

528 Reason and love keep little company together. 

7— iii. 1. 

529 Fire that is closest kept, burns most of all. 

2— i. 2. 

530 They do not love, that do not show their love. 

2— i. 2. 

531 They love least, that let men know their love. 

2— i. 2. 

532 As jewels lose their glory, if neglected, 
So princes their renown, if not respected. 

33— ii. 2. 

533 Treason is not inherited. 10 — i. 3. 

534 Love they to live,* that love and honour have. 

17— ii. 1. 

* i. e. Let them live. 



APHORISMS. 343 

535 Dumb jewels often, in their silent kind, 

More than quick words, do move a woman's 
mind. 2 — iii. 1. 

536 Small to greater matters must give way. 

30— ii. 2. 

537 No evil lost is wail'd when it is gone. 

14— iv. 2. 

538 The fine's* the crown ; 
Whate'er the course, the end is the renown. 

11— iv. 4. 

539 Some grief shows much of love ; 

But much of grief shows still some want of wit. 

35— iii. 5. 

540 Truth loves open dealing. 25 — iii. 1. 

541 Fear and love hold quantity ; 

In neither aught, or in extremity. 36 — iii. 2. 

542 Every inordinate cup is unblessed, and the ingre- 

dient is a devil. 37 — ii. 3. 

543 Many a man's tongue shakes out his master's 

undoing. 11 — ii. 4. 

544 None can cure their harms by wailing them. 

24— ii. 2. 

545 He wants wit, that wants resolved will. 

2— ii. 6. 

546 Brave death outweigh's bad life. 28 — i. 6. 

547 Beggars, mounted, run their horse to death. 

23— i. 4. 

548 The ripest fruit first falls. 17— ii. 1. 

549 Fathers, that wear rags, 

Do make their children blind ; 
But fathers, that bear bags, 

Shall see their -children kind. 34 — ii. 4. 

550 Too much to know, is to know nought but fame. 

8— i. 1. 

* The end. 



344 APHORISMS. 

551 A surfeit of the sweetest things 

The deepest loathing to the stomach brings. 

7— ii. 3. 

552 Virtue's office never breaks men's troth. 

8— v. 2. 

553 There was never yet fair woman, but she made 

mouths in a glass. 34 — iii. 2. 

554 Though death be poor it ends a mortal woe. 

17-— ii. 1. 

555 Things, past redress, are past care. 17 — ii. 3. 

556 What fates impose, that men must needs abide ; 
It boots not to resist both wind and tide. 

23— iv. 3. 

557 There's daggers in men's smiles. 15 — ii. 3. 

558 O, 'tis the curse in love, and still approved, 
When women cannot love where they're beloved. 

2— v. 4. 

559 One fire drives out one fire ; one nail, one nail ; 
Rights by rights founder, strength by strengths 

do fail. 28— iv. 7. 

560 Adversity's sweet milk — philosophy. 

35— iii. 3. 

561 Better to be disdained of all, than to fashion a 

carriage to rob love from any. 6 — i. 3. 

562 Lies are like the father that begets them. 

18— ii. 4. 

563 What great ones do, 

The less will prattle^of. 4— i. 2. 

564 Beauty's a flower. 4 — i. 5. 

565 Time goes upright with his carriage.* 1 — v. 1. 

566 Too light winning 

Makes the prize light. 1 — i. 2. 

* Time brings forward all the exposed events, without faltering 
under his burden. 



APHORISMS. 345 

567 Grace is grace, despite of all controversy. 

5— i. 2. 

568 Good counsellors lack no clients. 5 — i. 2. 

569 Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. 

5— iii. 1. 

570 Best men are moulded out of faults. 5 — v. 1. 

571 Some there be, that shadows kiss ; 

Such have but a shadow's bliss. 9 — ii. 9. 

572 Every offence is not a hate at first. 9 — iv. 1. 

573 Fools may not speak wisely, what wise men do 

foolishly. 10— i. 2. 

574 The mightiest space in fortune nature brings 
To join like likes, and kiss like native things. 

11— i. 1. 

575 Service is no heritage. 11 — i. 3. 

576 Canker vice the sweetest buds doth love. 

Poems. 

577 The sauce to meat is ceremony 

(Meeting were bare without it). 15 — iii. 4. 

578 Welcome and unwelcome things at once, 

'Tis hard to reconcile. 15 — iv. 3. 

579 Deep malice makes too deep incision. 

17— i. 1. 

580 Joy absent, grief is present for that time. 

17— i. 3. 

581 Urge doubts to them that fear. 17 — ii. 1. 

582 He doth sin, that doth belie the dead. 19 — i. 1. 

583 'Tis ever common, 

That men are merriest when they are from 
home. 20— i. 2. 

584 With silence, be thou politic. 21 — ii. 5. 

585 A subtle traitor needs no sophister. 22 — v. 1. 

586 A begging prince what beggar pities not? 

24— i. 4. 



346 APHORISMS. 

587 Honour's train 

Is longer than his foreskirt. 25 — ii. 3. 

588 Blunt wedges rive hard knots. 26 — i. 3. 

589 No man 

Can justly praise, but what he does affect. 

27— i. 2. 

590 Who cannot keep his wealth, must keep his 

house.* 27 — iii. 3. 

591 A prodigal course 

Is like the sun's ;f but not like his, recoverable. 

27— iii. 4. 

592 There is boundless theft in limited^ professions. 

27— iv. 3. 

593 Poor suitors have strong breaths. 28 — i. 1. 

594 Tavern bills — which are often the sadness of 

parting, as the procuring of mirth. 31 — v. 4. 

595 Wishes may prove effects. § 34 — iv. 2. 

596 Let the galled jade wince. 36 — iii. 2. 

597 Where the offence is, let the great axe fall. 

36— iv. 5. 

598 Why should honour outlive honesty 1 37 — v. 2. 

599 Every time 
Serves for the matter that is then born in it. 

30— ii. 2. 

600 There is sense in truth, and truth in virtue. 

5— v. 1. 

601 Men are men ; the best sometimes forget. 

37— ii. 3. 

602 Thrift is blessing, if men steal it not. 9— i. 3. 

603 Such as we are made of, such we be. 4 — ii. 2- 

604 Wish chastely, and love dearly. 1 — i. 3. 

* Keep within doors for fear of duns. 

t Like him in blaze and splendour. 

{ For legal. § Be completed. 



APHORISMS. 347 

605 Scorn and derision never come in tears. 

7— iii. 2. 

606 'Tis sin to natter. 23— v. 6. 

607 It is needful that you frame the season for your 

own harvest. 6 — i. 3. 

608 Watching breeds leanness. 17 — ii. 1. 

609 Who has a book of all that monarchs do, 
He's more secure to keep it shut than shown. 

33— i. 1. 

610 Blood hath bought blood, and blows have an- 

swer'd blows ; 
Strength match'd with strength, and power 
confronted power. 16 — ii. 2. 

611 'Tis with false sorrow's eye, 
Which, for things true, weeps things imaginary. 

17— ii. 2. 

612 Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, 
Shall win my love. 12 — iv. 2. 

613 Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold. 

10— i. 3. 

614 Though love use reason for his precisian,* he 

admits him not for his counsellor. 3 — ii. 1. 

615 Beauty lives with kindness.f 2— iv. 2. 

616 More than our brother is our chastity. 5 — ii. 4. 

617 A light wife doth make a heavy husband. 

9— v. 1. 

618 Better have none 

Than plural faith, which is too much by one. 

2 — v. 4. 

619 Thev love not poison that do poison need. 

17-v. 6. 

620 Care's an enemy to life. 4 — i. 3. 

* Physician. 

t Beauty without kindness dies unenjoyed, and undelighting. 



348 APHORISMS. 

621 O theft most base ; 

That we have stolen what we do fear to keep. 

26— ii. 2. 

622 Thoughts are winged. 10— iv. 1. 

623 Many 

Have broke their backs with laying manners on 
them. 25 — i. 1. 

624 Travellers must be content. 10 — ii. 4. 

625 How hard it is, to hide the sparks of nature. 

31— iii. 3. 

626 It will come to pass, 
That every braggart shall be found an ass. 

11— iv. 3. 

627 My stars shine darkly over me. 4 — ii. 1. 

628 There is no darkness but ignorance. 4 — iv. 2* 

629 Haste is needful in a desperate case. 23 — iv. 1- 

630 Good wits will be jangling. 8 — ii. 1„ 

631 Impatience waiteth on true sorrow. 23 — iii. 3~ 

632 A physic, 

That's bitter to sweet end. 5 — iv. 6- 

633 Hasty marriage seldom proveth well. 

23— iv. 1. 

634 A merry heart goes all the day, 

Your sad tires in a mile-a. 13 — iv. 2. 

635 Since the little wit, that fools have, was silenced, 

the little foolery, that wise men have, makes a 
great show. 10 — i. 2. 

636 While you live, draw your neck out of the 

collar. 35 — i. 1. 

637 The cuckoo builds not for himself. 30 — ii. 6. 

638 A Roman with a Roman's heart can suffer. 

31— v. 5. 

639 Jesters do oft prove prophets. 34 — v. 3. 



APHORISMS. 349 

640 It is fit, 

What being 1 more known grows worse, to smo- 
ther it. 33— i. 1. 

641 'Tis the time's plague, when madmen lead the 

blind. 34— iv. 1. 

642 The quality of nothing hath not need to hide it- 

self. 34— i. 2. 

643 'Tis said, a woman's fitness comes by fits. 

31— iv. 1. 

644 Two may keep counsel, putting one away. 

35— ii. 4. 

645 Young bloods look for a time of rest. 

29— iv. 3. 

646 Poison and treason are the hands of sin. 

33— i. 1. 

647 In delay 

We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day. 

35— i. 4. 

648 Who digs hills because they do aspire, 
Throws down one mountain to cast up a higher. 

33— i. 4. 

649 All love the womb that their first beings bred. 

33— i. 1. 

650 Your dull ass will not mend his pace with beat- 

ing. 36 — v. 1. 

651 Murder's as near to lust, as flame to smoke. 

33— i. 1. 

652 Cowards living 

To die with lengthened shame. 31 — v. 3. 

653 Beams are blessings. 11 — i. 3. 

654 Flowers are like the pleasures of the world. 

31— iv. 2. 

655 How pomp is followed ! 30 — v. 2. 

656 The clock upbraids me with the waste of time. 

4— iii. 1. 

657 The earth hath bubbles, as the water has. 

15— i. 3. 
30 



350 APHORISMS. 

658 A smile recures the wounding of a frown. 

Poems. 

659 Foul-cankering rust the hidden treasure frets ; 
But gold, that's put to use, more gold begets. 

ib. 

660 The path is smooth that leadeth unto danger. 

ib. 

661 Oft the eye mistakes, the brain being troubled. 

ib. 

662 Honour and beauty, in the owner's arms, 
Are weakly fortress'd from a world of harms. 

ib. 

663 Beauty itself doth of itself persuade 
The eyes of men without an orator. 

ib. 

664 By our ears our hearts oft tainted be. 

ib. 

665 For unstain'd thoughts do seldom dream on 

evil ; 
Birds never limed no secret bushes fear. 

ib. 

666 Pure thoughts are dead and still, 
While lust and murder wakes, to stain and kill. 

ib. 

667 True valour still a true respect should have. 

ib. 

668 All orators are dumb, when beauty pleadeth. 

ib. 

669 Poor wretches have remorse in poor abuses. 

ib. 

670 Love thrives not in the heart that shadows 

dreadeth. 

ib, 

671 A pure appeal seeks to the heart, 
Which, once corrupted, takes the worser part. 

ib. 

672 Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be 

tried. 

ib. 

673 Treason works ere traitors be espy'd. 

ib. 

674 Will is deaf, and hears no heedful friends. 

ib. 

675 Stoop to honour, not to foul desire. 

ib. 



APHORISMS. 351 

676 Affection is a coal that must be cool'd ; 
Else suffer'd, it will set the heart on fire : 

The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none. 

Poems. 

677 Tears harden lust, though marble wear with 

raining-. 

ib. 

678 Mud not the fountain that gave drink to thee. 

679 Mar not the thing that cannot be amended. 

ib. 

680 He is no woodman that doth bend his bow, 
To strike a poor unseasonable doe. 

681 Soft pity enters at an iron gate. 

682 King's misdeeds cannot be hid in clay. 

ib. 

683 Things out of hope are compass'd oft with 

vent'ring. 

684 Affection faints not, like a pale-faced coward, 
But then woos best, when most his choice is 

froward. 

ib. 

ib. 



ib. 
ib. 



685 Light and lust are deadly enemies. 

686 Drunken Desire must vomit his receipt, 
Ere he can see his own abomination. 

687 True eyes have never practised how 
To choke offences with a cunning brow. 



ib. 



ib. 



688 Fellowship in woe doth woe assuage, 

As palmers that make short their pilgrimage. 

ib. 

689 It easeth some, though none it ever cured, 
To think their dolour others have endured. 

ib. 

690 Rich preys make true men thieves. 

ib. 

691 Few words shall fit the trespass best, 
Where no excuse can give the fault amending. 

ib. 

692 The old bees die, the young possess the hive. 

ib. 



352 APHORISMS. 

693 To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit. 

Poems. 

694 How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow, 
If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show ! 

ib. 

695 Ruin'd love, when it is built anew, 
Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far 

greater. 

ib. 

696 Age in love loves not to have years told. 

ib. 

697 Love's fire heats water, water cools not love. 

ib. 

698 What's sweet to do, to do will aptly find. 

ib. 

699 The strongest castle, tower, and town, 
The golden bullet beats it down. 

700 Make assurance double sure. 15 — iv. 1. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Let us cast away nothing, for we may live to have need of 
such a verse. 26 — iv. 4. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



1 

I have pass'd a miserable night, 

So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights, 
That, as I am a Christian faithful man, 

1 would not spend another such a night, 
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days ; 
So full of dismal terror was the time. . . . 
Methought, that I had broken from the Tower, 
And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy ; 
And, in my company, my brother Gloster : 
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk 

Upon the hatches ; thence we looked toward England, 

And cited up a thousand heavy times, 

During the wars of York and Lancaster 

That had befall'n us. As we paced along 

Upon the giddy footing of the hatches, 

Methought, that Gloster stumbled ; and, in falling, 

Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard, 

Into the tumbling billows of the main. 

O ! methought, what pain it was to drown ! 

What dreadful noise of water in mine ears ! 

What sights of ugly death within mine eyes ! 

Methought, I saw a thousand fearful wrecks, 

A thousand men, that holies gnaw'd upon ; 

Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, 

Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, 

All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea : 

Some lay in dead men's skulls ; and, in those holes 

Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept 

(As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems, 

That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep, 

And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by. . . . 



356 MISCELLANEOUS. 

Often did I strive 
To yield the ghost : hut still the envious flood 
Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth 
To seek the empty, vast, and wand'ring air ; 
But smothex'd it within my panting bulk, 
Which almost burst to belch it in the sea. . . . 
O, then began the tempest to my soul ! 
I passed, methought, the melancholy flood, 
With that grim ferryman which poets write of, 
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night. 
The first that there did greet my stranger soul, 
Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick ; 
Who cried aloud, — What scourge for perjury 
Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence ? 
And so he vanish'd : Then eame wand'ring by 
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair 
Dabbled in blood ; and, he shriek'*! out aloud, — 
Clarence is come, — -false, fleeting, perjured Clarence, 
That stabbed me in the field by Tewksbury ; — 
Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments ! — 
With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends 
Environ'd me, and howled in mine ears 
Such hideous cries, that, with the very noise, 
I trembling waked, and, for a season after, 
Could not believe but that I was in hell ; 
Such terrible impression made my dream. 

• I have done these things, — 
That now give evidence against my soul. 24 — i. 4. 

2 

Between the acting of a dreadful thing 

And the first motion, all the interim is 

Like a phantasma,* or a hideous dream : 

The genius, and the mortal instruments, 

Are then in council ; and the state of man, 

Like to a little kingdom, suffers then 

The nature of an insurrection.! 29 — ii. 1. 

3 

Compunctious visitings of nature. 15 — i. 5. 

* Visionary. 

t This is finely illustrated by the state of Macbeth just before he 
murdered Duncan. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 357 



4 



O, that a man might know 
The end of this day's business ere it come ! 
But it sufficeth, that the day will end, 
And then the end is known. 29 — v. 1. 



An hour before the worshipp'd sun 

Peer d* forth the golden window of the east, 

A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad ; 

Where, — underneath the grove of sycamore, 

That westward rooteth from the city's side, — 

So early walking did I see your son : 

Towards him I made : but he was 'ware of me, 

And stole into the covert of the wood : 

1, measuring his affections by my own, — 

That most are busied when they are most alone, — 

Pursued my humour, not pursuing his, 

And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me. . . . 

Many a morning hath he there been seen, 

With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew, 

Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs : 

But all so soon as the all-cheering sun 

Should in the farthest east begin to draw 

The shady curtains from Aurora's bed, 

Away from light steals home my heavy son, 

And private in his chamber pens himself; 

Shuts up his windows,"locks fair daylight out, 

And makes himself an artificial night : 

Black and portentous must this humour prove, 

Unless good counsel may the cause remove. 

But he, his own affections' counsellor, 

Is to himself — I will not say, how true — 

But to himself so secret and so close, 

So far from sounding and discovery, 

As is the bud bit with an envious worm, 

Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air, 

Or dedicate his beauty to the sun. 

Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow, 

We would as willingly give cure as know. 35 — i. 1. 

* Appeared. 



358 MISCELLANEOUS. 

6 

As I was sewing in my closet, 
Lord Hamlet, — with his doublet all unbraced ; 
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, 
Ungarter'd and down-gyved* to his ancle; 
Pale as his shirt ; his knees knocking each other; 
And with a look so piteous in purport, 
As if he had been loosed out of hell, 
To speak of horrors, — he comes before me. 

He took me by the wrist, and held me hard ; 
Then goes he to the length of all his arm ; 
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow, 
He falls to such perusal of my face, 
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so ; 
At last, a little shaking of mine arm, 
And thrice his head thus waving up and down, — 
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound, 
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk,f 
And end his being : That done, he lets me go: 
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd, 
He seemM to find his way without his eyes; 
For out of doors he went without their helps, 
And, to the last, blended their light on me. 36 — ii. 1. 

7 

Brutus, I do observe you now of late : 
I have not from your eyes that gentleness, 
And show of love, as I was wont to have : 
You bear too stubborn and too strange! a hand 
Over your friend that loves you. . . , 

Cassius, 
Be not deceived : If I have veil'd my look, 
I turn the trouble of my countenance 
Merely upon myself Vexed I am, 
Of late, with passions of some difference^ 
Conceptions only proper to myself 
Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviours : 
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved ; 
(Among which number, Cassius, be ye one ;) 
Nor construe any farther my neglect, 

* Hanging down like fetters. f Body 

X Strange is alien, unfamiliar, such as might become a stranger. 

§With a fluctuation of discordant opinion and desires. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 359 

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, 
Forgets the shows of love to other men. . . . 

Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion ;* 
By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried 
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations. 
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face 1 . . . 

No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself, 
But by reflection,, by some other things. . . . 

Tis just: 
And it is very much lamented, Brutus, 
That you have no such mirrors, as will turn 
Your hidden worthiness into your eye, 
That you might see your shadow. 29 — i. 2. 



Yesternight, at supper, 
You suddenly arose, and walk'd about, 
Musing, and sighing, with your arms across ; 
And when I asked him what the matter was, 
You stared upon me with ungentle looks : 
I urged you farther ;. then you scratched your head, 
And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot: 
Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not ; 
But, with an angry wafture of your hand, 
Gave sign for me to leave you : So I did ;, 
Fearing to strengthen that impatience, 
Which seemed too much enkindled ; and withal, 
Hoping it was but an effect of humour, 
Which sometime hath his hour with every man. 
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep ; 
And, could it work so much upon your shape, 
As it hath much prevail'd on your condition,]; 
I should not know you. . . . 
You have some sick offence within your mind,, 
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,. 
I ought to know of: And upon my knees 
I charm you, by my once commended beauty, 
By all your vows of love, and that great vow 
Which did incorporate and make us one, 
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half, 
Why you are heavy. . . . 
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, 

* The nature of your feelings. t Tempes 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

Is it expected, I should know no secrets 

That appertain to you } Am I yourself, 

But, as it were, in sort, or limitation ; 

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, 

And talk to 'you sometimes 1 Dwell I but in the 

suburbs 
Of your good pleasure 1 If it be no more, 
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his. wife. 29 — ii. 1. 

9 

He parted frowning from me, as if ruin 
Leaped from his eyes : So looks the chafed lion 
Upon the daring huntsman, that has gall'd him; 
Then makes him nothing. 25 — iii. 2. 

10 

At last she calls to mind where hangs a piece 
Of skilful painting, made for Priam's Troy ; 
Before the which is drawn the power of Greece, 
For Helen's rape the city to destroy, 
Threatening cloud-kissing Ilion with annoy ; 
Which the conceited painter drew so proud, 
As heaven (it seem'd) to kiss the turrets bow'd. 

A thousand lamentable objects there, 
In scorn of nature, art gave lifeless life : 
Many a dry drop seem'd a weeping tear, 
Shed for the slaughter'd husband by the wife : 
The red blood reek'd, to show the painter's strife ; 
And dying eyes gleam'd forth their ashy lights, 
Like dying coals burnt out in tedious nights. 

There might you see the labouring pioneer 
Begrimed with sweat, and smeared all with dust ; 
And from the towers of Troy there would appear 
The very eyes of men through loop-holes thrust, 
Gazing upon the Greeks with little lust : 
Such sweet observance in this work was had, 
That one might see those far-off eyes look sad. 

In great commanders grace and majesty 

You might behold, triumphing in their faces ; 

In youth, quick bearing and dexterity ; 

And here and there the painter interlaces 

Pale cowards, marching on with trembling paces; 



MISCELLANEOUS. 361 

Which heartless peasants did so well resemble, 
That one would swear he saw them quake and tremble. 

In Ajax and Ulysses, O, what art 
Of physiognomy might one behold ! \ 
The face of either 'cipher'd either's heart ; 
Their face their manners most expressly told i 
In Ajax' eyes blunt rage and rigour roll'd ; 
But the mild glance that sly Ulysses lent,. 
Show'd deep regard and smiling government. 

There pleading might you see grave Nestor stand, 
As 'twere encouraging the Greeks to fight ; 
Making such sober action with his hand, 
That in beguiled attention, charm'd the sight : 
In speech, it seem'd, his beard, all silver white, 
Wagg'd up and down, and from his lips did fly 
Thin winding breath, which purl'd up to the sky. 

About him were a press of gaping faces, 
Which seem'd to swallow up his sound advice ; 
All jointly list'ning, but with several graces, 
As if some mermaid did their ears entice ; 
Some high, some low ; the painter was so nice, 
The scalps of many almost hid behind, 
To jump up higher seem'd, to mock the mind. 

Here one man's hand lean'd on another's head, 
His nose being shadow'd by his neighbour's ear; 
Here one, being throng'd, bears back, all blown and 

red ; 
Another, smother'd, seems to pelt and swear; 
And in their rage such signs of rage they bear, 
As, but for loss of Nestor's golden words, 
It seem'd they would debate with angry swords. 

For much imaginary work was there ; 
Conceit deceitful, so compact, so kind, 
That for Achilles' image stood his spear, 
Griped in an armed hand ; himself, behind, 
Was left unseen, save to the eye of mind : 
A hand, a foot, a face, a leg, a head, 
Stood for the whole to be imagined. 

And from the walls of strong-besieged Troy 

When their brave hope, bold Hector, march' d to field, 

31 



362 MISCELLANEOUS. 

Stood many Trojan mothers, sharing joy, 

To see their youthful sons bright weapons wield ; 

And to their hope they such odd action yield, 

That, through their iight joy, seemed to appear 

(Like bright things stain'd) a kind of heavy fear. 

And, from the strond of Dardan, where they fought, 

To Simois' reedy banks the red blood ran, 

Whose waves to imitate the battle sought 

With swelling ridges; and their ranks began 

To break upon the galled shore, and then 

Retire again, till meeting greater ranks 

They join, and shoot their foam at Simois' banks. 

To this well-painted piece is Lucrece come, 
To find a face where all distress is stel'd. 
Many she sees, where cares have carved some, 
But none were all distress and dolour dwell'd, 
Till she despairing Hecuba beheld, 
Staring on Priam's wounds with her old eyes, 
Which bleeding under Pyrrhus' proud foot lies. 

Poems. 
11 

I saw a smith stand with his hammer thus, 
The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool, 
With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news ; 
Who, with his shears and measure in his hand, 
Standing on slippers (which his nimble haste 
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet), 
Told of a many thousand warlike French, 
That were embattled and rank'd in Kent : 
Another lean unwash'd artificer 
Cuts off his tale, and talks of Arthur's death. 
Old men, and beldams, in the streets 
Do prophesy upon it dangerously : 
Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths : 
And when they talk of him, they shake their heads, 
And whisper one another in the ear ; 
And he, that speaks, doth gripe the hearer's wrist ; 
Whilst he, that hears, makes fearful action, 
With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes. 

16— iv. 2. 
12 
This is the very top, 
The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 363 

Of murder's arms : this is the bloodiest shame, 
The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke, 
That ever wall-eyed wrath, or staring rage, 
Presented to the tears of soft remorse. 16 — iv. 3. 

13 

I had a thing to say, — But let it go : 

The sun is in the heaven, and the proud day, 

Attended with the pleasures of the world, 

Is all too wanton, and too full of gawds,* 

To give me audience : — If the midnight bell 

Did, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth, 

Sound one unto the drowsy race of night ; 

If this same were a church-yard where we stand, 

And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs ; 

Or if that surly spirit, melancholy, 

Had baked thy blood, and made it heavy, thick 

(Which, else, runs tickling up and down the veins, 

Making that idiot, laughter, keep men's eyes, 

And strain their cheeks to idle merriment, 

A passion hateful to my purposes) ; 

Or if that thou could'st see me without eyes, 

Hear me without thine ears, and make reply 

Without a tongue, using conceitf alone, 

Without eyes, ears, and harmful sound of words ; 

Then, in despite of brooded watchful day, 

I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts : 

But ah, I will not. 16 — iii. 3. 

14 

The tyrannous and bloody act is done ; 
The most arch deed of piteous massac/e, 
That ever yet this land was guilty of. 
Dighton and Forrest, whom I did suborn 
To do this piece of ruthless! butchery, 

Albeit they were flesh'd villains, bloody dogs, 
Melting with tenderness and mild compassion, 
Wept like two children, in their death's sad story. 

O thus, quoth Dighton, lay the gentle babes, 

Thus, thus, quoth Forrest, girdling one another 

Within their alabaster innocent arms ; 

Their lips were four red roses on a stalk, 

* Showy ornaments. t Conception. t Merciless. 



364 MISCELLANEOUS. 

Which, in their summer beauty, kiss'd each other. 

A book of prayers on their pillow lay : 

Which once, quoth Forrest, almost changed my mind ; 

But, O, the devil — there the villain stopp'd ; 

When Dighton thus told on, — we smothered 

The most replenished sweet work of nature, 

That,from the prime creation, e'er sheframed. 

24— iv. 3. 
15 

See, how the blood is settled in his face 1 

Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,* 

Of ashy semblance, meager, pale, and bloodless, 

Being all descended to the labouring heart ; 

Who, in the conflict that it holds with death, 

Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy ; 

Which with the heart there cools, and ne'er returneth 

To blush and beautify the cheek again. 

But, see, his face is black, and full of blood ; 

His eyeballs farther out than when he lived, 

Staring full ghastly like a strangled man : tgling 5 

His hair uprear'd, his nostrils streteh'd with strug- 

His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd 

And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdued. 

Look on the sheets, his hair, you see, is sticking ; 

His well-proportion'd beard made rough and rugged, 

Like to the summer's corn by tempest lodged. 

It cannot be, but he was murder'd. 22 — iii. 2. 

16 

I was born so high, 
Our aieryf buildeth in the cedar's top, 
And dallies with the wind, and scorns the sun. 

24— i. 3. 
17 
New honours come upon him 
Like our strange garments ; cleave not to their mould, 
But with the aid of use. 15 — i. 3. 

18 
I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness ; 
And, from that full meridian of my glory, 

* A body become inanimate in the common course of nature ; to 
which violence has not brought a timeless end. f Nest. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 365 

I haste now to my setting : I shall fall 

Like a bright exhalation in the evening, 

And no man see me more. 25 — iii. 2. 

19 

I have ventured, 
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, 
This many summers in a sea of glory ; 
But far beyond my depth : my high-blown pride 
At length broke under me; and now has left me, 
Weary, and old with service, to the mercy 
Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me. 
Vain pomp, and glory of this world, I hate ye : 
I feel my heart new open'd. 

I know myself now ; and I feel within me 

A peace above all earthly dignities, 

A still and quiet conscience, 25 — -iii. 2, 

20 

Much attribute he hath ; and much the reason 
Why we ascribe it to him : yet all his virtues,— 
Not virtuously on his own part beheld, — 
Do, in our eyes, begin to lose their gloss ; 
Yea, like fair fruit in an unwholesome dish, 
Are like to rot untasted. 26— ii. 3. 

21 

His greatness was no guard 
To bar heaven's shaft, but sin had his reward. 

33— ii. 4. 
22 

Mine honour was not yielded, 
But conquer'd merely. 30 — iii. 11. 

23 

Though fortune's malice overthrow my state, 
My mind* exceeds the compass of her wheel. 

23— iv. 3. 
24 

My name is lost ; 
By treason's tooth bare-gnawn, and canker-bit. 

34— v. 3. 

* In his mind ; as far as his own mind goes. 

31* 



366 MISCELLANEOUS. 

25 

Though now this grain* face of mine be hid 

In sap-consuming winter's drizzled snow, 

And all the conduits of my blood froze up ; 

Yet hath my night of life some memory, 

My wasting lamps some fading glimmer left, 

My dull deaf ears a little use to hear. 14 — v. 1. 

26 

Silver hairs 
Will purchase us a good opinion, 
And buy men's voices to commend our deeds. 

29— ii. 1. 

27 

Time hath not yet so dried this blood of mine, 

Nor age so eat up my invention, 

Nor fortune made such havoc of my means, 

Nor my bad life reft me so much of friends, 

But they shall find, awaked in such a kind, 

Both strength of limb, and policy of mind, 

Ability in means, and choice of friends, 

To quit me of them thoroughly. 6 — iv. 1. 

28 

A most poor man, made tame by fortune's blows : 
Who, by the art of known and feelingf sorrows, 
Am pregnant to good pity. 34 — iv. 6. 

29 

Poor old man, thou prun'st a rotten tree, 
That cannot so much as a blossom yield, 
In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry. 10 — ii. 3. 

30 

Dispute it like a man. 

I shall do so ; 
But I must also feel it as a man : 
I cannot but remember such things were, 
That were most precious to me. 15 — iv. 3. 

* Furrowed . 

{■ Felt. Sorrow known, not by relation, but by experience. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 367 

31 

Famine is in thy cheeks, 
Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes, 
Upon thy back hangs ragged misery, 
The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law. 

35— v. 1. 
32 

My May of life 
Is fall'n into the sear,* the yellow leaf: 
And that which should accompany old age, 
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, 
I must not look to have ; but, in their stead, 
Curses, not loud, but deep, mouth-honour, breath, 
Which the poor heart would fain deny r but dare not. 

15— v. 3. 
33 

My blood, my want of strength, my sick heart, shows 
That I must yield my body to the earth, 
And, by my fall, the conquest to my foe. 
Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, 
Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle, 
Under whose shade the ramping lion slept ; 
Whose top-branch overpeer'd Jove's spreading tree, 
And kept low shrubs from winter's powerful wind. 

23— v. 2. 
34 

Thou wert better in thy grave, than to answer with 
thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies. — Is 
man no more than this 1 Consider him well : Thou 
owest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep 
no wool, the cat no perfume : unaccommodated man 
is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as 
thou art. 34 — iii. 4. 

35 

Thou art e'en as just a man 
As e'er my conversation coped withal. 

Nay, do not think I flatter : 
For what advancement may I hope from thee, 
That no revenue hast, but thy good spirits, 

* Dry. 



368 MISCELLANEOUS. 

To feed, and clothe thee 1 Why should the poor be 

flatter'd 1 
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp ; 
And crook the pregnant* hinges of the knee, 
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear ? 
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice, 
And could of men distinguish her election, 
She hath seal'd thee for herself : for thou hast been 
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing; 
A man, that fortune's buffets and 'rewards 
Hast ta'en with equal thanks : and bless'd are those 
Whose blood and judgment are so well co-mingled, 
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger 
To sound what stop she please : Give me that man, 
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him 
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart, 
As I do thee. 36 — iii. 2. 

36 
How his audit stands, who knows, save Heaven 1 
But, in our circumstance and course of thought, 
'Tis heavy with him. 36 — iii. 3. 

37 

Your constancy 
Hath left you unattended. 15 — ii. 2. 

38 

If you suspect my husbandry, or falsehood, 

Call me before the exactest auditors, 

And set me on the proof. — 

When all our officesf have been oppress'd 

With riotous feeders ; when our vaults have wept 

With drunken spilth of wine ; when every room 

Hath blazed with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy ; 

I have retired me to a wasteful cock,| 

And set mine eyes at flow. 27 — ii. 2. 

39 

I would, I could 
Quit all offences with as clear excuse, 

* Quick, ready. 

t Apartments allotted to culinary offices, &c. 

| A pipe with a turning stopple running to waste. 



J^ISCELLANEOUS. 369 

As well as, I am doubtless, T can purge 

Myself of many I am charged withal : 

Yet such extenuation let me beg, 

As, in reproof of many tales devised, 

By smiling pick-thanks* and base newsmongers, 

I may, for some things true, wherein my youth 

Hath faulty wander' d and irregular, 

Find pardon on my true submission. 18 — iii. 2. 

40 

They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, 

That now they are at fall, f want treasure, cannot 

Do what they would; are sorry — you are honourable, — 

But yet they could have wish'd — they know not — but 

Something hath been amiss — a noble nature 

May catch a wrench — would all were well — 'tis pity — 

And so, intending! other serious matters, 

After distasteful looks, and these hard fractions,^ 

With certain half-caps, || and cold-moving nods, 

They froze me into silence. 27 — ii. 2. 

41 

I can no other answer make, but, thanks, 

And thanks, and ever thanks : Often good turns 

Are shuffled off with such uncurrent pay : 

But, were my worth,1T as is my conscience, firm, 

You should find better dealing. 4 — iii. 3. 

42 

You are liberal in offers ; 
You taught me first to beg ; and now, methinks, 
You teach me how a beggar should be answer'd. 

9— iv. 1. 
43 

By the pattern of mine own thoughts I cut out 
The purity of his. 13— iv. 3. 

44 

How far that little candle throws his beams ! 

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 9 — v. 1. 

* Officious parasites. i i. e. At an ebb. 

% Intending had anciently the same meaning as attending. 

§ Broken hints, abrupt remarks. 

if A half-cap, is a cap slightly moved, not put off. IT Wealth. 



370 MISCELLANEOUS. 

45 
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown ! 
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword : 
The expectancy and rose of the fair state, 
The glass of fashion, and the mould* of form, 
The observed of all observers ! quite, quite down ! 
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, 
That suck'd the honey of his music vows, 
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, 
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh ; 
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth, 
Blasted with ecstasy.f 36 — iii. 1. 

46 
What, are my doors opposed against my passage 1 
Have I been ever free, and must my house 
Be my retentive enemy, my gaol ? 
The place, which I have feasted, does it now, 
Like all mankind, show me an iron heart? 27 — iii. 4. 

47 
Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low. 

18— iv. 3. 

48 

O, sick to death : 
My legs, like loaden branches, bow to the earth, 
Willing to leave their burden. 25 — iv. 2. 

49 
I may be negligent, foolish, and fearful ; 
In every one of these no man is free, 
But that his negligence, his folly, fear, 
Amongst the infinite doings of the world, 
Sometimes puts forth : In your affairs, 
If ever I were wilful negligent, 
It was my folly : if industriously 
I play'd the fool, it was my negligence, 
Not weighing well the end ; if ever fearful 
To do a thing, where I the issue doubted, 
Whereof the execution did cry out 
Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear 
Which oft affects the wisest: these, 

* The model by whom all endeavoured to form themselves, 
t Alienation of mind. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 371 

Are such infirmities, that honesty 
Is never free of. 13 — i. 2. 

50 

This world to me is like a lasting- storm, 

Whirring me from my friends. 33 — iv. 1. 

51 
Good stars, that were my former guides, 
Have empty left their orbs, and shot their fires 
Into the abysm of hell. 30 — iii. 11. 

52 

My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much, 
Unless my hand and strength could equal them. 

23— iii. 2. 
53 

There is no terror in your threats ; 
For I am arm'd so strong in honesty, 
That they pass by me as the idle wind, 
Which I respect not. 29 — iv. 3. 

54 

If well-respected honour bid me on, 
I hold as little counsel with weak fear, 
As you. 18— iv. 3. 

55 

Could beauty have better commerce than with 
honesty] 36 — iii. 1. 

56 

I ask that I might awaken reverence, 

And bid the cheek be ready with a blush, 

Modest as Morning when she coldly eyes 

The youthful Phoebus.* 26— i. 3. 

• 57 

Have I lived thus long — (let me speak myself, 
Since virtue finds no friends) — a wife, a true one? 
A woman (I dare say, without vain-glory) 
Never yet branded with suspicion 1 
Have I with all my full affections 

. . . loved him next heaven 1 obey'd him 1 
Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him If 
Almost forgot my prayers to content him 1 
And am I thus rewarded 1 'tis not well. — 

* To perceive the beauty of this passage, view it in' its connexion 
in the play. t Served him with his superstitious attention. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

Bring me a constant woman to her husband ; 
One, that ne'er dream'd a joy beyond his pleasure; 
And to that woman, when she has done most, 
Yet will I add an honour, — a great patience. 

25— iii. 1. 
58 

Those, that do teach young babes, 
Do it with gentle means, and easy tasks : 
He might have chid me so ; for, in good faith, 
I am a child to chiding. 37 — iv. 2. 

59 
Heaven witness, 
I have been to you a true and humble wife, 
At all times to your will conformable : 
Ever in fear to kindle your dislike, 
Yea, subject to your countenance ; glad, or sorry, 
As I saw it inclined. When was the hour, 
I ever contradicted your desire, 
Or made it not mine too 1 Or which of your friends 
Have I not strove to love, although I knew 
He were mine enemy ] what friend of mine, 
That had to him derived your anger, did I 
Continue in my liking T nay, gave notice 
He was from thence discharged 1 Sir, call to mind, 
That I have been your wife, in this obedience, 
Upward of twenty years, and have been blest 
With many children by you : If, in the course 
And process of this time, you can report, 
And prove it too, against mine honour aught, 
My bond to wedlock, or my love and duty, 
Against your sacred person, in God's name, 
Turn me away ; and let the foul'st contempt 
Shut door upon me, and so give me up 
To the sharpest kind of justice. 25 — ii. 4. 

60 
I was of late as petty to his ends, 
As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf 
To his grand sea * 30— iii. 10. 

8 61 

Your changed complexions are to me a mirror, 
Which shows me mine changed too : for I must be 

* As ia the dew to the sea. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 373 

A party in this alteration, finding 

Myself thus alter'd with it. 13 — i. 2. 

62 

Patience — 
Of whose soft grace, I have her sovereign aid, 
And rest myself content. 1 — v. 1. 

63 

Left her in her tears, and dry'd not one of them 
with his comfort ; swallowed his vows whole, pretend- 
ing in her discoveries of dishonour : in few, bestowed* 
her on her own lamentation, which she yet wears for 
his sake ; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed 
with them, but relents not. 5 — iii. 1. 

64 

He that commends me to my own content, 

Commends me to the thing I cannot get. 

I to the world am like a drop of water, 

That in the ocean seeks another drop ; 

Who, falling there to find his fellow forth, 

Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself. 14 — i. 2. 

65 

Wherefore weep you 1 — 
At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer 
What I desire to give ; and much less take, 
What I shall die to want : But this is trifling; 
And all the more it seeks to hide itself, 
The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning ! 
And prompt me, plain and holy innocence ! 
I am your wife, if you will marry me ; 
If not, I'll die your maid : to be your fellowf 
You may deny me ; but I'll be your servant, 
Whether you will or no. 1 — iii. 1. 

66 
When maidens sue, 
Men give like gods ; but when they weep and kneel, 
All their petitions are as freely theirsj 
As they themselves would owe§ them. 5 — i. 5. 

* Gave her up to her sorrows. f Companion. 

t Freely granted to them. § Have. 

32 



374 MISCELLANEOUS. 

67 
This she? no, 
If beauty have a soul, this is not she ; 
If souls guide vows, if vows be sanctimony, 
If sanctimony be the gods' delight, 
If there be rule in unity itself — 
This was not she. O madness of discourse, 
That cause sets up with and against itself! 
Bi-fold authority ! where reason can revolt 
Without perdition, and loss assume all reason 
Without revolt ; this is, and is not, Cressid ! 
Within my soul there doth commence a fight 
Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate 
Divides more wider than the sky and earth ; 
And yet the spacious breadth of this division 
Admits no orifice for a point, as subtle 
As is Arachne's broken woof, to enter. 
Instance, O instance ! strong as Pluto's gates ; 
Cressid is mine, tied with the bonds of heaven : 
Instance, O instance ! strong as heaven itself; 
The bonds of heaven are slipp'd, dissolved and loosed ; 
And with another knot, five-finger tied,* 
The fractions of her faith, orts of her love, 
The fragments, scraps, the bits, and greasy reliques, 
Of her o'er-eaten faith, ar.e bound to Diomed. 

26— v. 2. 
68 

Fear, and niceness 
(The handmaids of all women, or, more truly, 
Woman its pretty self.) 31 — iii. 4. 

69 

A pack of blessings lights upon thy back ; 
Happiness courts thee in her best array ; 
But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench, 
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love. 

35— iii. 3. 
70 

Thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter ; 
Or, rather, a disease that's in my flesh, 
Which I must needs call mine : thou art a boil, 
A plague-sore, an emboss'd carbuncle, 

* A knot tied by giving her hand to Diomed. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 375 

In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee ; 
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it : — 
Mend when thou can'st ; be better at thy leisure. 

34 — ii. 4. 
71 

There is a willow grows ascaunt the brook, 
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream ; 
Therewith fantastic garlands did she make 
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, 
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, 
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them : 
There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds 
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke ; 
When down her weedy trophies, and herself, 
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide; 
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up : 
Which time, she chanted snatches of old tunes ; 
As one incapable* of her own distress, 
Or like a creature native and indued 
Unto that element: but long it could not be, 
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, 
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay 
To muddy death. 36— iv. 7. 

72 

They hurried us aboard a bark ; 
Bore us some leagues to sea ; where they prepared 
A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigg'd, 
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast ; the very rats 
Instinctively had quit it : there they hoist us, 
To cry to the sea that roar'd to us ; to sigh 
To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again, 
Did us but loving wrong. . . . 

Alack ! what trouble ! 
Was I then to you ! 

O ! a cherubim 
Thou wast, that did preserve me ! Thou didst smile, 
Infused with a fortitude from heaven, 
When I have deck'df the sea with drops full salt ; 
Under my burden groan'd ; which raised in me 
An undergoing stomach,! to bear up 
Against what should ensue. . . . 

How came we ashore 1 . . . 
By Providence divine. 1 — i. 2. 

* Insensible. t Sprinkled. J Stubborn resolution. 



376 MISCELLANEOUS. 

73 

So long 
As he could make me with this eye or ear 
Distinguish him from others, he did keep 
The deck, with glove, or hat, or handkerchief, 
Still waving, as the fits and stirs of his mind 
Could best express how slow his soul sail'd on, 

How swift his ship 

Thou should'st have made him 
As little as a crow, or less, ere left 
To after-eye him. — 
I would have broke mine eyestrings ; crack'd them, 

but 
To look upon him ; till the diminution 
Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle : 
Nay, followed him till he had - melted from 
The smallness of a gnat to air ; and then 
Have turn'd mine eye, and wept. 31 — i. 4. 

74 

To comfort you with chance, 
Assure yourself, after our ship did split, 
When you, and that poor number saved with you, 
Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother, 
Most provident in peril, bind himself 
(Courage and hope both teaching him the practice) 
To a strong mast that lived upon the sea ; 
Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back, 
I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves, 
So long as I could see. 4 — i. 2. 

75 

I saw him beat the surges under him, 

And ride upon their backs ; he trod the water, 

Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted 

The surge most swoln that met him ; his bold head 

'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd: 

Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke 

To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd, 

As stooping to relieve him. 1 — ii. 1. 

76 
At thy birth, dear boy, 
Nature and fortune join'd to make thee great : 



MISCELLANEOUS. 377 

Of nature's gifts, thou may'st with lilies boast, 
And with the half-blown rose : but fortune, O ! 
She is corrupted, changed, and won from thee. 

16— iii 1. 

77 

Me thinks, I feel this youth's perfections, 

With an invisible and subtle stealth, 

To creep in at mine eyes. 4 — i. 5. 

78 

O thou goddess, 
Thou divine Nature, how thyself thou blazon'st 
In these two princely boys ! They are as gentle 
As zephyrs, blowing below the violet, 
Not wagging his sweet head : and yet as rough, 
Their royal blood enchafed, as the rud'st wind, 
That by the top doth take the mountain pine, 
And make him stoop to the vale. 'Tis wonderful, 
That an invisible instinct should frame them 
To royalty unlearn'd ; honour untaught ; 
Civility not seen from other ; valour, 
That wildly grows in them, but yields a crop 
As if it had been sow'd ! 31 — iv. 2. 

79 

We were 
Two lads, that thought there was no more behind, 
But such a day to-morrow as to-day, 
And to be boy eternal. ... 

We were as twinn'd lambs, that did frisk i' the sun, 
And bleat the one at the other : What we changed, 
Was innocence for innocence ; we knew not 
The doctrine of ill doing, no, nor dream'd 
That any did. . . . 
Temptations have since then been born to us. 

13— i. 2. 
80 

When thou, haply, seest 
Some rare note-worthy object in thy travel ; 
Wish me partaker in thy happiness, 
When thou dost meet good hap ; and, in thy danger, 
If ever danger do environ thee, 
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers, 
For I will be thy bead's-man. 2 — i. 1. 

32* 



378 MISCELLANEOUS. 

81 

At home, 
He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter : 
He makes a July's day short as December ; 
And, with his varying childness, cures in me 
Thoughts, that would thick my blood. 13 — i. 2. 

82 

We still have slept together, 

Rose at an instant, learn'd, play'd, eat together ; 

And, wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans, 

Still we went coupled, and inseparable. 10 — i. 3. 

83 

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, 
Having some business, do entreat her eyes 
To twinkle in their spheres till they return. 
What if her eyes were there, they in her head ? 
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, 
As daylight doth a lamp ; her eye in heaven 
Would through the airy region stream so bright, 
That birds would sing, and think it were not night. 

Bright angel ! for thou art 
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head, 
As is a winged messenger of heaven 
Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes 
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him, 
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds, 
And sails upon the bosom of the air. 35 — ii. 2. 

84 

This is the prettiest low-born lass, that ever 

Ran on the green sward ;* nothing she does, or seems, 

But smacks of something greater than herself; 

Too noble for this place. 13 — iv. 3. 

85 

Is all the counsel that we two have shared, 
The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent, 
When we have chid the hasty-footed time 

* Green turf 



MISCELLANEOUS. 379 

For parting us, — O, and is all forgot % 

All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence 1 

We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, 

Have with our neelds* created both one flower, 

Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion, 

Both warbling of one song, both in one key ; 

As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds, 

Had been incorporate. So we grew together, 

Like to a double cherry, seeming parted ; 

But yet a union in partition, 

Two lovely berries moulded on one stem : 

So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart ; 

Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, 

Due but to one, and crowned with one crest. 

And will you rend our ancient love asunder 1 

7— iii. 2. 
86 

I have lived 
To see inherited my very wishes, 
And the buildings of my fancy. 28 — ii. 1. 

87 
What a piece of work is man ! How noble in 
reason ! How infinite in faculties ! in^ form, and 
moving, how express and admirable ! in action, how 
like an angel ! in apprehension, how like a god ! the 
beauty of the world ! the paragon of animals ! 

88 

See, what a grace was seated on this brow : 

Hyperion'sf curls ; the front of Jove himself; 

An eye like Mars, to threaten and command ; 

A station}: like the herald Mercury, 

New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill ; 

A combination, and a form, indeed, 

Where every god did seem to set his seal, 

To give the world assurance of a man. 36 — iii. 4. 

89 

I have, in this rough work, shaped out a man, 
Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug 

* Needles. t Apollo's. J The act of standing. 



380 MISCELLANEOUS. 

With amplest entertainment : My free drift 

Halts not particularly,* but moves itself 

In a wide sea of wax :f no levell'd malice 

Infects one comma in the course I hold ; 

But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on, 

Leaving no tract behind. 27 — i. 1. 

90 

How this grace 
Speaks his own standing ! what a mental power 
This eye shoots forth ! how big imagination 
Moves in this lip ! to the dumbness of the gesture 
One might interpret. 27 — i. 1. 

91 
The painting is almost the natural man ; 
For since dishonour traffics with man's nature, 
He is but outside : these pencill'd figures are 
Even such as they give out.| 27 — i. 1. 

92 
Thou art like the harpy, 
Which, to betray, doth wear an angel's face, 
Seize with an eagle's talons. § 34 — iv. 4. 

93 
There be players, that I have seen play, — and 
heard others praise, and that highly, — not to speak it 
profanely, that, neither having the accent of Chris- 
tians, nor the gait of Christian, Pagan, nor man, have 
so strutted, and bellow'd, that I have thought some of 
nature's journeymen had made men, and not made 
them well, they imitated humanity so abominably. 

36— iii. 2. 
94 

Hath he so long held out with me untired, 

And stops he now for breath 1 24 — iv. 2. 

95 
What a wicked beast was I, to disfurnish myself 

* My design does not stop at any particular character, 
t Anciently they wrote upon waxen tables with an iron style. 
j Pictures have no hypocrisy ; they are what they profess to be. 
§ Thou resemblest in thy conduct the harpy, which allures with 
the face of an angel, that it may seize with the talons of an eagle. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 381 

against such a good time, when I might have shown 
myself honourable 1 how unluckily it happened, that 
I should purchase the day before for a little part, and 
undo a great deal of honour. Commend me boun- 
tifully to his good lordship ; and I hope, his honour 
will conceive the fairest of me, because I have no 
power to be kind : and tell, him, this from me, I count 
it one of my greatest afflictions, say, that I cannot 
pleasure such an honourable gentleman. 27 — iii. 2. 

96 

Now do I play the touch, 
To try if thou be current gold, indeed. 24 — iv. 2. 

97 

To build his fortune, I will strain a little, 

For 'tis a bond in men. 27 — i. 1. 

98 
For herein fortune shows herself more kind 
Than is her custom : it is still her use, 
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, 
To view with hollow eye, and wrinkled brow, 
An age of poverty. 9 — iv. 1. 

99 
Can such things be, 
And overcome* us like a summer's cloud, 
Without our special wonder 1 15 — iii. 4. 

100 

I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in 

To saucy doubts and fears. 15 — iii. 4. 

101 

Reputation, reputation, reputation ! O, I have lost 
my reputation ! I have lost the immortal part of my- 
self ; and what remains is bestial. 37 — ii. 3. 

102 
O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, 
And men have lost their reason ! 29 — iii. 2. 

* Pasa over us. 



382 MISCELLANEOUS. 

103 

I set you up a glass 
Where you may see the inmost part of you. 

36— iii. 4. 

104 
Common mother, thou, 
Whose womb immeasurable, and infinite breast, 
Teems, and feeds all ; whose self-same mettle, 
Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is puff'd, 
Engenders the black toad, and adder blue, 
The gilded newt, and eyeless venom'd worm, 
With all the abhorred births below crisp heaven 
Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine; 
Yield him, who all thy human sons doth hate, 
From forth thy plenteous bosom, one poor root. 

27— iv. 3. 

105 
I have upon a high and pleasant hill 
Feign'd Fortune to be throned. The base o' the 

mount 
Is rank'd with all deserts, all kind of natures, 
That labour on the bosom of this sphere 
To propagate their states :* amongst them all, 
Whose eyes are on this sovereign lady fix'd, 

One do I personate, 

Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her ; 
Whose present grace to present slaves and servants 
Translates his rivals. 

All those, which were his fellows but of late 
(Some better than his value), on the moment 
Follow his strides, his lobbies fill with tendance, 
Rain sacrificial whisperings! in his ear, 
Make sacred even his stirrop, and through him 

Drinkf the free air. 

When Fortune, in her shift and change of mood, 
Spurns down her late beloved, all his dependants, 
Which labour'd after him to the mountain's top, 
Even on their hands and knees, let him slip down, 
Not one accompanying his declining foot. 27 — i. 1. 

* To advance their conditions of life. 

t Whisperings of officious servility. X Inhale. 



MISCELT ANEOUS. 383 

106 

All the world's a stage, 
And all the men and women merely players : 
They have their exits, and their entrances ; 
And one man in his time plays many parts, 
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, 
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms ; 
And then, the whining school-boy, with his satchel, 
And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
Unwillingly to school. And then, the lover ; 
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad 
Made to his mistress' eyebrow : Then, a soldier, 
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, 
Jealous in honour, sudden* and quick in quarrel, 
Seeking the bubble reputation 
Even in the cannon's mouth : And then the justice ; 
In fair round belly, with good capon lined, 
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut, 
Full of wise saws and modern-) instances, 
And so he plays his part : The sixth age shifts 
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon ; 
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side : 
His youthful hose well saved, a world too wide 
For his shrunk shank ; and his big manly voice, 
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 
And whistles in his sound : Last scene of all, 
That ends this strange eventful history, 
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion ; 
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing. 

10— ii. 7. 

107 

The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, 

The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve ; 

And like this insubstantial pageant faded, 

Leave not a rack behind. 1 — iv. 1. 

108 

So tedious is this day, 
As is the night before some festival 

* Violent. t Trite, common. 



384 MISCELLANEOUS. 

To an impatient child that hath new robes, 

And may not wear them. 35 — iii. 2. 

109 

He hath persecuted time with hope : and finds no 
other advantage in the process but only the losing of 
hope by time. 11 — i. 1. 

110 

Time travels in divers paces with divers persons : 
I'll tell you who time ambles withal, who time trots 
withal, who time gallops withal, and who he stands 
still withal. He trots hard with a young maid, be- 
tween the contract of her marriage, and the day it is 
solemnized : if the interim be but a se'nnight, time's 
pace is so hard, that it seems the length of seven 
years. — He ambles with a priest, that lacks Latin, and 
a rich man, that hath not the gout : for the one sleeps 
easily, because he cannot study ; and the other lives 
merrily, because he feels no pain : the one lacking 
the burden of lean and wasteful learning ; the other 
knowing no burden of heavy tedious penury : These- 
time ambles withal.— He gallops with a thief to the 
gallows : for though he go as softly as foot can fall,, 
he thinks himself too soon there. — He stays still witk 
lawyers in the vacation ; for they sleep between term 
and term, and then they perceive not how time moves., 

10— iii. 2. 
Ill 
The swallowing gulf 
Of dark forgetfulness and deep oblivion. 24 — iii. 7. 

112 

Mellow'd by the stealing hours of time. 24 — iii. 7. 

113 

In the dark backward and abysm of time 1 1 — i. 2. 

114 

The blind cave of eternal night. 24 — v. 3. 

115 

Dark night, that from the eye his function takes, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 385 

The ear more quick of apprehension makes; 

Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense, 

It pays the hearing double recompense. 7 — iii. 2. 

116 

The silver livery of advised age. 22 — v. 3. 

117 

He's walked the way of nature. 19 — v. 2. 

118 

Dew the sovereign flower, and drown the weeds. 

15— v. 2. 

119 

The nonpareil of beauty ! 4 — i. 5. 

120 
The cool and temperate wind of grace. 20 — iii. 3. 

121 
A raven's heart within a dove. 4 — v. 1. 

122 

And rather like a dream than an assurance 

That my remembrance warrants. 1 — i. 2. 

123 
The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve. 

7— v. 1. 
124 
Like to the time o' the year between the extremes 
Of hot and cold, he was nor sad, nor merry. 

30— i. 5. 
125 

Music! hark! 
Nothing is good, I see, without respect ; 
Methinks, it sounds much sweeter than by day. . . . 
Silence bestows that virtue on it. . . . 
The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark, 
When neither is attended ; and, I think, 
The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
When every goose is cackling, would be thought 
No better a musician than the wren. 

33 



386 MISCELLANEOUS. 

How many things by seasons season'd are 

To their right praise and true perfection ! 9 — v- 1. 

126 

Do but note a wild and wanton herd, 

Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, 

Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud, 

Which is the hot condition of their blood ; 

If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound, 

Or any air of music touch their ears, 

You shall perceive them make a mutual stand, 

Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze, 

By the sweet power of music : Therefore, the poet 

Did feign, that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and 

floods ; 
Since nought so stockish, hard, and full of rage, 
But music for the time doth change his nature :* 
The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treasons, stratagems,, and spoils ; 
The motions of his spirit are dull as night, 
And his affections dark aa Erebus : 
Let no such man be trusted. 9 — v. 1. 

127 

This music crept by me upon the waters ; 

Allaying both their fury, and my passion, 

With its sweet air. 1 — i. 2. 

128 

O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend 

The brightest heaven of invention. 20 — i. Chorus. 

129 

Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes 

From whence 'tis nourished : The fire i T the flint 

Shows not, till it be struck; our gentle flame 

Provokes itself, and, like the current, flies 

Each bound it chafes, f 27 — i. 1. 

* Such is the general character of music. 

t Perhaps, the sense is, that having touched on one subject, it 
flies off in quest of another. OJd copy reads chases. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 387 

]30 

The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, 

Burn'd on the water ; the poop was beaten gold ; 

Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that [silver ; 

The winds were love-sick with them : the oars were 

Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made 

The water, which they beat, to follow faster, 

As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, 

It beggar'd all description : she did lie 

In her pavilion (cloth of gold of tissue), 

O'erpicturing that Venus, where we see, 

The fancy out-work nature ; on each side her, 

Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, 

With diverse-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem 

To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, 

And what they undid, did.* . . . 

Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, 

So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes, 

And made their bends adornings : at the helm 

A seeming mermaid steers ; the silken tackle 

Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands, 

That yarely framef the office. From the barge 

A strange invisible perfume hits the sense 

Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast 

Her people out upon her ; and Antony, 

Enthroned in the market-place, did sit alone, 

Whistling to the air ; which, but for vacancy, 

Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too, 

And made a gap in nature. 30 — ii. 2, 

131 

Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds, 

The gutter'd rocks, and congregated sands, — 

Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel, 

As having sense of beauty, do omit 

Their mortal natures, letting go safely by 

The divine Desdemona. 37— -ii. 1. 

132 

O, it is monstrous ! monstrous ! 
Methought, the billows spoke, and told me of it ; 

* Added to the warmth they were intended to diminish. 
| Readily perform. 



388 MISCELLANEOUS. 

The winds did sing it to me ; and the thunder, 
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe pronounced 
The name of Prosper ; it did bass my trespass.* 

1— iii. 3. 

133 

Come, shall we go and kill us venison 1 
And yet it irks me, the poor dappled fools, — 
Being native burghers of this desert city, — 
Should, in their own confines, with forked heads 
Have their round haunches gored. . . . 

Indeed, my lord, 
The melancholy Jaques grieves at that. — 
To-day, my lord of Amiens, and myself, 
Did steal behind him, as he lay along 
Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out 
Upon the brook, that brawls along this wood" 
To the which place a poor sequester'd stag, 
That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt, 
Did come to languish ; and, indeed, my lord, 
The wretched animal heaved forth such groans, 
That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat 
Almost to bursting ; and the big round tears 
Coursed one another down his innocent nose 
In piteous chase : and thus the hairy fool, 
Much marked of the melancholy Jaques, 
Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook, 
Augmenting it with tears. . . . 

But what said Jaques 1 
Did he not moralize this spectacle 1 . . . 

O, yes, into a thousand similes. 
First, for his weeping in the needlessf stream ; 
Poor deer, quoth he, thou maWst a testament 
As worldlings do, giving thy sum of more 
To that which had too much : Then, being alone, 
Left and abandon'd of his velvet friends ; 
' Tis right, quoth he ; thus misery doth part 
The flux of company: Anon, a careless herd, 
Full of the pasture, jumps along by him, 
And never stays to greet him ; Ay, quoth Jaques, 
Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens ; 

* The deep pipe told it me in a rough bass sound, 
t The stream that wanted not a supply of moisture. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 389 

' Tis just the fashion : Wherefore do you look 
Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there ? 

10— ii. 1. 
134 

I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once, 

When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear 

With hounds of Sparta : never did I hear 

Such gallant chiding ;* for, besides the groves, 

The skies, the fountains, every region near 

Seem'd all one mutual cry : 1 never heard 

So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. 7 — iv. 1. 

135 

My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, 

So flew'd,f so sanded \\ and their heads are hung 

With ears that sweep away the morning dew ; 

Crook-knee'd, and devv-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls ; 

Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, 

Each under each. A cry more tuneable 

Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn. 

7— iv. 1. 
136 

Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them, 
And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth. 

12 — Induction, 2. 
137 

I with the Morning's Love§ have oft made sport ; 
And, like a forester, the groves may tread, 
Even till the eastern gate, all fiery red, 
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams, 
Turns into yellow gold his salt-green streams. 

7— iii. 2. 
138 

As free as mountain winds. 1 — i. 2. 

139 

These are the forgeries of jealousy : 
And never, since the middle summers spring, || 
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead, 

* Sound. t The flews are the large chaps of a hound. 

% So marked with small spots. 

§ Cephalus, the paramour of Aurora. 

\ Midsummer shoots, second spring. 

33* 



390 MISCELLANEOUS. 

By paved fountain, or by rushy brook, 
Or on the beached margent of the sea, 
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind, 
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport. 
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, 
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea 
Contagious fogs ; which falling in the land, 
Have every pelting* river made so proud, 
That they have overborne their continents :t 
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, 
The ploughman lost his sweat ; and the green corn 
Hath rotted, ere his youth attain'd a beard : 
The fold stands empty in the drowned field, 
The crows are fatted with the murrain flock ; 
The nine men's morris:}: is fill'd up with mud ; 
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green, 
For lack of tread, are undistinguishable ; 
The human mortals want their winter here; 
No night is now with hymn or carol blest : — 
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods, 
Pale in her anger, washes all the air, 
That rheumatic diseases do abound :§ 
And thorough this distemperature,|| we see 
The seasons alter ; hoary-headed frosts 
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose ; 
And on old Hyem's chin, and icy crown, 
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds, 
Is, as in mockery, set: The spring, the summer, 
The chillinglF autumn, angry winter, change 
Their wonted liveries : and the 'mazed world, 
By their increase,** now knows not which is which. 

7— ii. 2. 

140 

I see, queen Mab hath been with you. 
She is the fairies' midwife ; and she comes 
In shape no bigger than an agate- stone 
On the fore-finger of an alderman, 

* Petty. t Banks which contain them. 

t A game played by boys. 

§ That the moon does create tides in the atmosphere, as well as in 
the sea, is the opinion of several eminent modern philosophers. 
|| Perturbation of the elements. 
IT Autumn producing flowers unseasonably. ** Produce. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 991 

Drawn with a team of little atomies* 

Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep : 

Her wagon-spokes made of long- spinners' legs ; 

The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers ; 

The traces, of the smallest spider's web ; 

The collars, of the moonshine's watery beams : 

Her whip, of cricket's bone ; the lash of film : 

Her wagoner, a small gray-coated gnat, 

Not half so big as a round little worm 

Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid : 

Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut, 

Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub, 

Time out of mind the fairies' coach-makers. 

And in this state she gallops night by night 

Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love: 

On courtiers' knees, that dream of court'sies straight: 

O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees : 

O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream ; 

Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, 

Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are. 

Sometimes she gallops o'er a courtier's nose, 

And then dreams he of smelling out a suit :f 

And sometimes comes she with a tithe-pig's tail, 

Tickling a parson's nose as 'a lies asleep — 

Then dreams he of another benefice : 

Sometimes she driveth o'er a soldier's neck, 

And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, 

Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, 

Of healths five fathom deep ; and then anon 

Drums in his ear ; at which he starts, and wakes ; 

And, being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two, 

And sleeps again. This is that very Mab, 

That plats the manes of horses in the night; 

And bakes the elf-locksj in foul sluttish hairs, 

Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes. 

35— i. 4. 

141 

My gentle Puck, come hither : Thou remember'st 
Since once I sat upon a promontory, 
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back, 
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, 

* Atoma. t A place in court. 

t i. e. Fairy-locks, locks of hair clotted and tangled in the night. 



392 MISCELLANEOUS. 

That the rude sea grew .civil at her song ; 

And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, 

To hear the sea-maid's music. — 

"That very time I saw (but thou could'st not), 

Flying between the cold moon and the earth, 

Cupid all arm'd : a certain aim he took 

At a fair vestal throned by the west ; 

And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow, 

As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts : 

But I might -see young Cupid's fiery shaft 

Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon; 

And the imperial vot'ress passed on, 

In maiden meditation, fancy-free.* 

Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell : 

It fell upon a little western flower, — 

Before, milk-white ; now purple with love's wound, 

And maidens call it love-in-idleness, 7 — ii. 2. 

142 

Be kind and courteous to this gentleman ; 

Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes ; 

Feed him with apricocks, and dewberries, 

With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries ; 

The honey-bags steal from the humble bees, 

And., for night-tapers, crop their waxen thighs, 

And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes, 

To have my love to bed, and to arise ; 

And pluck the wings from painted butterflies, 

To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes ; 

jNod to him, elves, and do him courtesies. 7 — iii. 1. 

143 

The purblind hare, 
Mark the poor wretch, to overshut his troubles, 
How he outruns the wind, and with what care 
He cranks-and crosses with a thousand doubles : 
The many musits through the which he goes, 
Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes. 

Sometimes he runs among a flock of sheep, 
To make the cunning hounds mistake their smell ; 
And sometime where earth-delving conies keep, 
To stop the loud pursuers in their yell; 

* Exempt from love. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 393 

And sometime sorteth with a herd of deer; 
Danger deviseth shifts; wit waits on fear. 

For there is smell with others being mingled, 
The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt ; 
Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled 
With much ado the cold fault cleanly out ; 
Then do they spend their mouths : Echo replies, 
As if another chase were in the skies. 

By this, poor Wat, far off, upon a hill, 
Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear, 
To hearken if his foes pursue him still ; 
Anon their loud alarums he doth hear ; 
And now his grief may be compared well 
To one sore-sick, that hears the passing bell. 

Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch 
Turn, and return, indenting with the way ; 
Each envious briar his weary legs doth scratch, 
Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay ; 
For misery is trodden on by many, 
And being low, never relieved by any. 



144 

As it fell upon a day, 

In the merry month of May, 

Sitting in a pleasant shade 

Which a grove of myrtles made, 

Beasts did leap, and birds did sing, 

Trees did grow, and plants did spring ; 

Every thing did banish moan, 

Save the nightingale alone: 

She, poor bird, as all forlorn, 

Lean'd her breast up-till a thorn, 

And there sung the dolefull'st ditty, 

That to hear it was great pity : 

Fie, fie, fie, now would she cry, 

Teru, Teru, by and by : 

That to hear her so complain, 

Scarce I could from tears refrain ; 

For her griefs, so lively shown, 

Made me think upon mine own. 

Ah ! (thought I) thou mourn'st in vain ; 

None take pity on thy pain : 



Poems. 



394 MISCELLANEOUS. 

I 

. Senseless trees they cannot hear thee ; 
Ruthless beasts, they will not eheer thee ; 
King Pandion, he is dead ; 
All thy friends are lapp'd in lead : 
All thy fellow birds do sing, 
Careless of thy sorrowing. 
Even so, poor bird, like thee, 
None alive will pity me. 

Whilst as fickle fortune smiled, 

Thou and I were both beguiled, 

Every one that flatters thee, 

Is no friend in misery. 

Words are easy like the wind; 

Faithful friends are hard to find. 

Every man will be thy friend, 

Whilst thou hast wherewith to spend ; 

But if store of crowns be scant, 

No man will supply thy want ; 

If that one be prodigal, 

Bountiful they will him call ; 

And with such-like flattering* 

" Pity but he were a king*" 

If he be addict to vice, 
Quickly him they will entice; 
But if fortune once do frown, 
Then farewell his great renown : 
They that fawn'd on him before, 
Use his company no more. 
He that is thy friend indeed, 
He will help thee in thy need ; 
If thou sorrow, he will weep ; 
If thou wake, he cannot sleep : 
Thus of every grief in heart 
He with thee dpth bear thee part. 
These are certain signs to know 
Faithful friend, from flattering foe. 

Poems. 
145 

That island of England breeds very valiant crea- 
tures ; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage. . . . 
And the men do sympathize with the mastiffs in 
robustious and rough coming on, leaving their wits 



MISCELLANEOUS. 395 

with their wives: and then give them great meals of 
beef, and iron, and steel they will eat like "Wolves, 
and fight like devils. 20 — iii- 7. 

146 

O England ! — model to thy inward greatness, 
Like little body with a mighty heart, — 
What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do, 
Were all thy children kind and natural ! 

20 — ii. Chorus* 
147 
Kent, in the commentaries Csssar writ, 
Is term'd the civil'st place of all this isle : 
Sweet is the country, because full of riches ; 
The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy. 22 — iv. 7. 

148 
Yon island carrions, desperate of their bones,, 
Ill-favour'dly become the morning field : 
Their ragged curtains* poorly are let loose-, 
And our air shakes them passing scornfully. 
Big Mars, seems bankrupt in their beggar'd host, 
And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps. 
Their horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks, 
With torch-staves in their hand : aad their poor jade& 
Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips ;. 
The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes; 
And in their pale dull mouths the gimmalf bit 
Lies foul with chew'd grass, still and motionless ; 
And their executors, the knavish crows, 
Fly o'er them all,, impatient for their hour. 20 — iv. 2. 

Alas, poor country ; 
Almost afraid to know itself! It cannot 
Be call'd, our mother, but our grave : where nothings 
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile ; 
Where sighs, and shrieks, that rent the air, 
Are made, not mark'd ; where violent sorrow seems 
A modern ecstasy ;£ the dead man's knell 
Is there scarce ask'd, for who; and good men's lives 
Expire before the flowers in their caps, 
Dying, or ere they sicken. 15 — iv. & 

* Colours. t Ring. J Common distress of mincL 



396 MISCELLANEOUS. 

150 

Tell me, he that knows, 
Why this same strict and most observant watch, 
So nightly toils the subject of the land 1 
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, 
And foreign mart for implements of war ; 
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task 
Does not divide the Sunday from the week :* 
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste 
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day 1 

36— i. 1. 
151 

'Tis the soldiers' life, 
To have their balmy slumbers waked with strife. 

37— ii. 3. 
152 

The tyrant custom 
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war 
My thrice-driven bed of down : I do agnizef 
A natural and prompt alacrity, 
I find in hardness. 37 — i. 3. 

153 
What rub, or what impediment, there is, 
Why that the naked, poor, and mangled peace, 
Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births, 
Should not, in this best garden of" the world, 

. . . put up her lovely visage 1 
Alas ! she hath too long been chased ; 
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps, 
Corrupting in its own fertility. 
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart, 
Unpruned dies : her hedges even-pleached, — 
Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair, — 
Put forth disorder'd twigs : her fallow leas 
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory, 
Doth root upon : while that the coulterf rusts, 
That should deracinate^ such savagery : 
The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth 
The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover, 
Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank, 

* Fourth Commandment. t Acknowledge, J Ploughshare. 
§ To deracinate, is to force up the roots. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 397 

Conceives by idleness ; and nothing teems, 

But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs, 

Losing both beauty and utility. 

And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges, 

Defective in their natures, grow to wildness; 

Even so our houses, and ourselves, and children,. 

Have lost, or do not learn, for want of time, 

The sciences that should become our country f 

But grow, like savages, — as soldiers will, 

That nothing do but meditate on blood, — 

To swearing, and stern looks, diffused attire, 

And every thing that seems unnatural. 20 — v. 2L 

154 

In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man, 

As modest stillness, and humility : 

But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 

Then imitate the action of the tiger ; 

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, 

Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage: 

Then lend the eye a terrible aspect ; 

Let it pry through the portage of the head, 

Like the brass cannon ; let the brow o'er whelm it, 

As fearfully, as doth a galled* rock 

O'erhang and juttyf his confounded base, 

Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. 

Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide ; 

Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit 

To his full height ! — On, on, you noblest English, 

20— iii. L 
155 

Thy threat'ning colours now wind up, 
And tame the savage spirit of wild war ; 
That, like a lion foster'd up at hand, 
It may lie gently at the foot of Peace,| 
And be no farther harmful than in show. 16 — v. 2. 

156 

Our arms, like to a muzzled bear, 

Save in aspect, have all offence seal r d up ; 

Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent 

* Worn, wasted. 

t A mole to withstand the encroachment of the tide-. 

j Exquisite allegorical painting f 

34 



398 MISCELLANEOUS. 

Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven ; 
And, with a blessed and unvex'd retire, 
With unhack'd swords, and helmets all unbruised, 
We will bear home that lusty blood again, 
Which here we came to spout against your town, 
And leave your children, wives, and you, in peace. 

16— ii. 2. 

157 
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, 
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, 
This other Eden, demi-paradise ; 
This fortress, built by nature for herself, 
Against infection,* and the hand of war; 
This happy breed of men, this little world ; 
This precious stone set in the silver sea, 
Winch serves it in the office of a wall, 
Or as a moat defensive to a house, 
Against the envy of less happier lands ; 
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England : — 

Dear for her reputation through the world. 17 — ii. 1. 

158 

The natural bravery of your isle ; which stands 

As Neptune's park, ribbed and paled in 

With rocks unscalable, and roaring waters; 

With sands, that will not bear your enemies' boats, 

But suck them up to the top-mast. A kind of conquest 

Csesar made here ; but made not here bis brag 

Of, came, and saw, and overcame : with shame 

(The first that ever touch'd him), he was carried 

From off our coast, twice beaten; and his shipping, 

(Poor ignorant baubles !) on our terrible seas, 

Like egg-shells moved upon their surges, crack'd 

As easily 'gainst our rocks : For joy whereof, 

The famed Cassibelan, who was once at point 

(O, giglot-} fortune !) to master Caesar's sword, 

Made Lud's town with rejoicing fires bright, 

And Britons strut with courage. 31 — iii. 1. 

159 

That pale, that white-faced! shore, 

* Should it not be insertion? \ Strumpet. 

t England is supposed to be called Albion, from the white rocks 
facing France. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 399 

Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring 

And coops from other lands her islanders, 

Even till that England, hedged in with the main, 

That water-walled bulwark, still secure 

And confident from foreign purposes, 

Even till that utmost corner of the west 

Salute thee for her king. 16 — ii. 1. 

160 

I' the world's volume 
Our Britian seems as of it, but not in it : 
In a great pool, a swan's nest. 31 — iii. 4. 

161 
England never did (nor never shall) 
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, 
But when it first did help to wound itself. 
Come the three corners of the world in arms, 
And we shall shock them : Nought shall make us rue, 
If England to itself do rest but true. 16 — v. 7. 

162 

England, bound in with the triumphant sea, 

Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege 

Of watery Neptune. 17 — ii. 1. 

163 

Britain is a world by itself. 31 — iii. 1. 

164 
To prove that true 
Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds, 
Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took, 
When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank, 
In single opposition, hand to hand, 
He did confound the best part of an hour 
In changing hardiment with great Glendower: 
Three times they breath'd, and three times they did 

drink, 
Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood ; 
Who, then, affrighted with their Moody looks, 
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds, 
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank, 
Blood-stained with these valiant combatants. 18 — i. 3. 



400 MISCELLANEOUS. 

165 

Suppose, that you have seen 
The well-appointed king at Hampton pier 
Embark his royalty ; and his brave fleet 
With silken streamers, the young Phoebus fanning. 
Play with your fancies ; and in them behold, 
Upon the hempen tackle, ship-boys elimbing: 
Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give 
To sounds confused : behold the threaden sails, 
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind, 
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea, 
Breasting the lofty surge. 20 — iii. Chorus, 

166 
Where's the king 1 . . . 
Contending with the fretful element ; 
Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea, 
Or swell the curved waters 'bove the main,* 
That things might ehange, or cease ; tears his white 

hair; 
Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage, 
Catch in their fury, and make nothing of: 
Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn 
The to-and-fro conflicting wind and rain. 
This night, wherein the cub-drawn bearf would couch 
The lion and the belly-pinched wolf 
Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs, 
And bids what will take all. \ 34 — iiL 1. 

167 

Saw you not, even now, a blessed troop 
Invite me to a banquet ; whose bright faces 
Cast thousand beams upon me, like the sun ? 
They promised me eternal happiness ; 
And brought me garlands, Griffith, which I feel 
I am not worthy yet to wear : I shall, 
Assuredly. 25 — iv. 2. 

168 

As in a theatre, the eyes of men, 
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, 
Are idly bent on him that enters next, 
Thinking his prattle to be tedious : 

* The main land, the continent. 

t Whose dugs are drawn dry by its young. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 401 

Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes 
Did scowl on Richard ; no man cried, God|save him ; 
No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home : 
But dust was thrown upon his sacred head ; 
Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off*, — 
His face still combating with tears and smiles, 
The badges of his grief and patience, — 
That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd 
The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted, 
And barbarism itself have pitied him. 
But Heaven hath a hand in these events ; 
To whose high will be bound our calm contents. 

17— v. 2. 
1G9 

All tongues speak of him, and the bleared sights 
Are spectacled to see him : Your prattling nurse 
Into a rapture* lets her baby cry, 
While she chats him : the kitchen malkinf pins 
Her richest lockramj 'bout her reechy§ neck, 
Clambering the walls to eye him : Stalls, bulks, win- 
do* vs, 
Are srnother'd up, leads fill'd, and ridges horsed 
With variable complexions ; all agreeing 
In earnestness to see him : seld||-shown flamenslf 
Do press among the popular throngs, and puff 
To win a vulgar station :** our veil'd dames 
Commit the war of white and damask, in 
Their nicely-gawdedff cheeks, to the wanton spoil 
Of Phoebus' burning kisses : such a pother, 
As if that whatsoever god, who leads him, 
Were slily crept into his human powers, 
And gave him graceful posture. 28 — ii. 1. 

170 

I have seen 
The dumb men throng to see him, and the blind 
To hear him speak : The matrons flung their gloves, 
Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchiefs, 
Upon him as he pass'd ; the nobles bended, 
As to Jove's statue ; and the commons made 

* Fit. t Maul. t Best linen. 

§ Soiled with sweat and smoke. |f Seldom. IT Priests. 

** Common standing place. tt Adorned. 

34* 



402 MISCELLANEOUS. 

A shower, and thunder, with their caps, and shouts : 
I never saw the like. 28 — ii. 1. 

171 
I saw young Harry, — with his beaver on, 
His cuisses* on his thighs, gallantly arm'd, — 
Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury, 
And vaulted with such ease into his seat, 
As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds, 
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, 
And witcht the world with noble horsemanship. 

18— iv. 1. 

172 

This town is full of cozenage ; 
As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye, 
Dark-working sorcerers, that change the mind, 
Soul-killing witches, that deform the body ; 
Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks, 
And many such like liberties of sin. 14 — i. 2. 

173 

Thou trumpet, 
Now crack thy lungs, and split thy brazen pipe : 
Blow, villain, till thy sphered bias cheek 
Out-swell the colic of purF'd Aquilon : 
Come, stretch thy chest, and let thy eyes spout blood ; 
Thou blow'st for Hector. 26— iv. 5. 

174 

Do but start 
An echo with the clamour of thy drum, 
And even at hand a drum is ready braced, 
That shall reverberate all as loud as thine ; 
Sound but another, and another shall, 
As loud as thine, rattle the welkin's ear, 
And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder. J 6 — v. 2. 

175 

From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night, 
The hum of either army stilly I sounds, 
That the fix'd sentinels almost receive 
The secret whispers of each other's watch : 
Fire answers fire ; and through their paly flames 
Each battle sees the other's umber'd$ face : 

* Armour. f Bewitch, charm. % Gently, lowly. 

§ Discoloured by the gleam of fires. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 403 

Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs 

Piercing the night's dull ear j and from the tents, 

The armourers, accomplishing the knights, 

With busy hammers closing rivets up, 

Give dreadful note of preparation. 

The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll, 

And the third hour of drowsy morning name. 

Proud of their numbers, and secure in soul, 

The confident and over-lusty* French 

Do the low-rated English play at dice ; 

And chide the cripple tardy-gaited knight, 

Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp 

So tediously away. The poor condemned English, 

Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires 

Sit patiently, and inly ruminate 

The morning's danger ; and their gesture sad, 

Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats, 

Presenteth them unto the gazing moon 

So many horrid ghosts. O, now, who will behold 

The royal captain of this ruin'd band, 

Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent, 

Let him cry — Praise and glory on his head ! 

For forth he goes, and visits all his host ; 

Bids them good-morrow, with a modest smile ; 

And calls them — brothers, friends, and countrymen. 

Upon his royal face there is no note, 

How dread an army hath enrounded him ; 

Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour 

Unto the weary and all-watched night: 

But freshly looks, and overbears attaint, 

With cheerful semblance, and sweet majesty ; 

That every wretch, pining and pale before, 

Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks : 

A largessf universal, like the sun, 

His liberal eye doth give to every one, 

Thawing cold fear. 20 — iv. Chorus. 

176 

His bloody brow 
With his mail'd hand| then wiping, forth he goes ; 
Like to a harvest-man, that's tasked to mow 
Or alitor lose his hire. 28 — i. 3. 

* Over-saucy. t Bounty. 

X i. e. His hand covered, or armed, with mail. 



404 MISCELLANEOUS. 

177 
That Julius Csesar was a famous man ; 
With what his valour did enrich his wit, 
His wit set down to make his valour live : 
Death makes no conquest of this conqueror ; 
For now he lives in fame, though not in life. 

24— iii. 6. 

178 

The Greeks are strong", and skilful to their strength, 
Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant; 
But I am weaker than a woman's tear, 
Tamer than sleep, fonder* than ignorance ; 

And skill-less as unpractised infancy. 2b* — i. 1. 

179 

I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, 

Labouring for destiny, make cruel way 

Through ranks of Greekish youth : and I have seen 

thee, 
As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed, 
Despising many forfeits and subduements, 
When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' the air, 
Not letting it decline on the declined ;t 
That I have said to some my standers-by 
Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life ! 
And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath, 
When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in, 
Like an Olympian wrestling. 26 — iv. 5. 

180 

To what base uses we may return ! Why may not 
imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till it 
find it stopping a bung-hole % As thus, Alexander 
died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to 
dust ; the dust is earth : of earth we make loam : And 
why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might 
they not stop a beer barrel 1 

Imperious Caesar, dead, and turn'd to clay, 
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away ; 
O, that the earth, which kept the world in awe, 
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw ! 

36— v. 1. 

* Weaker. t Fallen. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 405 

181 

I remember, when the fight was done, 
When I was dry with rage, and extreme toil, 
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword, 
Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly dress'd, 
Fresh as a bridegroom, and his chin, new reap'd, 
Show'd like a stubble land at harvest-home ; 
He was perfumed like a milliner ; 
And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held 
A pouncet-box,* which ever and anon 

He gave his nose, and took't away again 

Who, therewith angry, when it next came there, 

Took it in snuff; — and still he smiled and talk'd ; 

And, as the soldiers bore dead bodies by, 

He call'd them— untaught knaves, unmannerly, 

To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse 

Betwixt the wind and his nobility. 

With many holiday and lady terms 

He question'd me : 

I then, all smarting, with my wounds being cold, 

To be so pester'd with a popinjay,f 

Out of my grief J and my impatience, 

Answer'd neglectingly, I know not what ; 

. For he made me mad, 
To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, 
And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman, 
Of guns, and drums, and wounds, (God save the mark !) 
And telling me, the sovereign'st thing on earth 
Was parmaceti, for an inward bruise ; 
And that it was great pity, so it was, 
That villanous saltpetre should be digg'd 
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, 
Which many a good tall§ fellow had destroy'd 
So cowardly ; and, but for these vile guns, 
He would himself have been a soldier. 18 — i. 3. 

182 

O Hero ! what a Hero had'st thou been, 
If half thy outward graces had been placed 
About thy thoughts, and counsels of thy heart ! 

6 — iv. 1. 
183 

Those he commands, move only in command, 

* A small box for musk or other perfumes. t Parrot. 

X Pain. § Brave. 



406 MISCELLANEOUS. 

Nothing in love : now does he feel his title 
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe 
Upon a dwarfish thief. 15— v. 2. 

184 

His nature is too noble for the world : 

He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, 

Or Jove for his power to thunder. His heart's his 

mouth : 
What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent ; 
And being angry, does forget that ever 
He heard the name of death. 28 — iii. 1. 

185 

Turn him to any cause of policy, 

The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, 

Familiar as his garter ; that, when he speaks, 

The air, a charter'd libertine, is still, 

And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, 

To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences. 20 — i. 1. 

186 
So much is my poverty of spirit, 
So mighty, and so many, my defects, 
That I would rather hide me from my greatness, — 
Being a hark to brook no mighty sea, — 
Than in my greatness covet to be hid, 
And in the vapour of my glory smother'd. 

20— iii. 6. 

187 
A sponge that soaks up the king's countenance, his 
rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king 
best service in the end : He keeps them, like an ape, 
in the corner of his jaw ; first mouthed, to be last swal- 
lowed : When he needs what you have gleaned, it is 
but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be drv again. 

36— iv. 2. 

188 

He hath resisted law, 
And therefore law shall scorn him farther trial 
Than the severity of the public power, 
Which he so sets at nought. 28 — iii. 1. 

189 
So cowards fight when they can fly no farther ; 



MISCELLANEOUS. 407 

So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons ; 
So desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives, 
Breathe out invectives 'gainst the officers. 23 — i. 4. 

190 

That face of his I do remember well ; 

Yet, when I saw it last, it was besmear'd 

As black as Vulcan, in the smoke of war : 

A bawbling vessel was he captain of, 

For shallow draught, and bulk, unprizable; 

With which such scathful grapple did he make 

With the most noble bottom of our fleet, 

That very envy, and the tongue of loss, 

Cried fame and honour on him. 4— v. 1. 

191 

To seem to affect the malice and displeasure of the 
people, is as bad as that which he dislikes, to flatter 
them for their love. 28 — ii. 2. 

192 

The common people swarm like summer-flies : 

And whither fly the gnats, but to the sun 1 23 — ii. 6. 

193 

They do prank them in authority, 

Against all noble sufferance. 28— iii. 1. 

194 

How smooth and even they do bear themselves ! 

As if allegiance in their bosom sat, 

Crowned with faith and constant loyalty. 20 — ii. 2. 

195 

He's loved of the distracted multitude, 
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes ; 
And, where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd, 
Bat never the offence. 36 — iv. 3. 

196 

Look, as I blow this feather from my face, 

And as the air blows it to me again, 

Obeying with my wind when I do blow, 

And yielding to another when it blows, 

Commanded always by the greater gust ; 

Such is the lightness of you common men. 23 — iii. 1. 



408 MISCELLANEOUS. 

197 

He, that depends 
Upon your favours, swims with fins of lead, 
And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye ! Trust ye! 
With every minute you do change a mind ; 
And call him noble, that was now your hate, 
Him vile, that was your garland. 28 — i. 1. 

198 
Why, had your bodies 
No heart among you 1 Or had you tongues, to cry 
Against the rectorship of judgment! 28 — ii. 3. 

199 
He that trusts you, 
Where he should find you lions, finds you hares; 
Where foxes, geese : You are no surer, no, 
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice, 
Or hailstone in the sun. 28 — i. 1. 

200 
You common cry of curs ! whose breath I hate 
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize, 
As the dead carcasses of unburied men 
That do corrupt my air. 28 — iii. 3. 

201 
What's the matter, you dissentious rogues, 
That rubbing the poor itch of your opinion, 
Make yourselves scabs 1 28 — i. 1. 

202 

You souls of geese, 
That bear the shapes of men, how have you run 
From slaves that apes would beat 1 28 — i. 4. 

203 
You are potently opposed ; and with a malice 
Of as great size. Ween* you of better luck, 
I mean, in perjured witness, than your Master, \ 
Whose minister you are, whiles here he lived 
Upon this naughty earth ! 25 — v. 1. 

♦Think. t Christ. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 409 

204 

It was always yet the trick of our English nation, 
if they have a good thing, to make it too common. 

19— i. 2. 
205 

The clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and 
turn it, and set a new nap upon it. 22 — iv. 2. 

206 

The caterpillars of the commonwealth. 17 — ii. 3. 

207 

Being not propp'd by ancestry (whose grace 
Chalks successors their w T ay), neither allied 
To eminent assistants, but, spider-like, 
Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note, 
The force of his own merit makes his way ; 
A gift that Heaven gives for him 

I cannot tell 
What Heaven hath given him, let some graver eye 
Pierce into that ; but I can see his pride 
Peep through each part of him : Whence has he that, 
Ifnotfromhell] 25— i. 1. 

208 

We must suggest the people, in what hatred 

He still hath held them : that to his power, he would 

Have made them mules, silenced their pleaders, and 

Dispropertied their freedoms : holding them, 

In human action and capacity, 

Of no more soul, nor fitness for the world, 

Than camels in their war ; who have their provand 

Only for bearing burdens, and sore blows 

For sinking under them. 28 — ii. 1. 

209 

I love the people, 
But do not like to stage me to their eyes : 
Though it do well, I do not relish well 
Their loud applause, and aves vehement : 
Nor do I think the man of safe discretion, 
That does affect it. 5 — i. 1. 

210 

Let not the world see fear, and saa 1 distrust. 

Govern the motion of a kingly eye. 16 — v. 1. 

35 



410 MISCELLANEOUS. 

211 

Be great in act, as you have been in thought ; 

Be stirring as the time ; be fire with fire ; 

Threaten the threat'ner, and outface the brow 

Of bragging horror, so shall inferior eyes, 

That borrow their behaviours from the great, 

Grow great by your example, and put on 

The dauntless spirit of resolution. 16 — v. 1. 

212 
Show boldness and aspiring confidence. 16 — v. 1. 

213 

Something, sure, of state, 
Hath puddled his clear spirit : and, in such cases, 
Men's natures wrangle with inferior things, 
Though great ones are their object. 'Tis even so ; 
For let our finger ache, and it indues 
Our other healthful members ev'n to that sense 
Of pain. • 37— iii. 4. 

214 

Who is so gross, 
That cannot see this palpable device 1 
Yet who so bold, but says — he sees it not I 
Bad is the world ; and all will come to nought, 
When such bad dealing must be seen in thought. 

24— iii. 6. 

215 

For the mutable, rank-scented many, let them 

Regard me as T do not flatter, and 

Therein behold themselves : I say again, 

In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate 

The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition, 

Which we ourselves have plough'd for, sow'd, and 

scatter'd, 
By mingling them with us, the honour'd number ; 
Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that 
Which they have given to beggars. 28 — iii. 1. 

216 

The man was noble, 
But with his last attempt he wiped it out ; 
Destroy'd his country ; and his name remains, 
To the ensuing age, abhorr'd 28 — v. 3. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 411 

217 
Behold destruction, frenzy, and amazement, 
Like witless antics, one another meet. 26 — v. 3. 

218 

Be factious for redress of all these griefs ; 

And I will set this foot of mine as far, 

As who goes farthest. 29 — i. 3. 

219 
Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd, 
As bending angels ; that's their fame in peace : 
But when they would seem soldiers, they have galls, 
Good arms, strong joints, true swords ; and Jove*'s 

accord, 
Nothing so full of heart. 26— i. 3. 

220 

Civil dissension is a viperous worm, 

That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth. 

21— iii. 1. 
221 

Cruel are the times, when we are traitors, 
And do not know ourselves : when we hold rumour 
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear ; 
But float upon a w 7 ild and violent sea, 
Each way, and move. 15— iv. 2. 

222 

Great promotions 
Are daily given, to ennoble those 
That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble. 

24— i. 1. 
223 

We hear this fearful tempest sing, 
Yet seek no shelter to avoid the storm; 
We see the wind sit sore upon our sails, 
And vet we strike not, but securely perish. 

17— ii. 1. 
224 

The jury, passing on the prisoner's life, 
May, in the sworn twelve, have a thief or two 
Guiltier than him they try : What's open made to 

justice, 
That justice seizes. What know the laws, 
That thieves do pass on thieves'? 5 — ii. 1. 



412 MISCELLANEOUS. 

225 

If little faults, proceeding on distemper, 
Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye, 
When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested, 
Appear before us] 20 — ii. 2. 

226 

We must not make a scare-crow of the law, 
Setting* it up to fear the birds of prey, 
And let it keep one shape, till custom make it 
Their perch, and not their terror. 5 — ii. 1. 

227 
We see which way the stream of time doth run, 
And are enforced from our most quiet sphere 
By the rough torrent of occasion. 19 — iv. 1. 

228 
Poise the cause in justice' equal scales, 
Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause pre- 
vails. 22 — ii. 1. 

229 
Contention, like a horse, 
Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose, 
And bears down all before him. 19 — i. 1. 

230 

The tag, — whose rage doth rend 
Like interrupted waters, and o'erbear 
What they are used to bear. 28 — iii. 1. 

231 

Tiger-footed rage, when it shall find 
The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will, too late, 
Tie leaden pounds to his heels. 28 — iii. 1. 

232 

The present time's so sick, 
That present medicine must be minister'd, 
Or overthrow incurable ensues. 16 — v. 1. 

233 

O conspiracy ! 
Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, 
When evils are most free 1 O, then, by day, 
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough 



MISCELLAISEOU8. 413 

To mask thy monstrous visage 1 Seek none, conspiracy ; 

Hide it in smiles and affability : 

For if thou put thy native semblance on, 

Not Erebus himself were dim enough 

To hide thee from prevention. 29 — ii. 1. 

234 

Diseases, desperate grown, 
By desperate appliance are relieved, 
Or not at all. 36— iv. 3. 

235 

Such is the infection of the time, 
That, for the health and physic of our right, 
We cannot deal but with the very hand 
Of stern injustice and confused wrong. 16 — v. 2. 

236 
If that the heavens do not their visible spirits 
Send quickly down to tame these vile offences, 
'Twill come, 

Humanity must perforce prey on itself, 
Like monsters of the deep. 34 — iv. 2. 

237 

Though some of you, with Pilate, wash your hands, 

Showing an outward pity ; yet you Pilates 

Have here delivered me to my sour cross, 

And water cannot wash away your sin. 17 — iv. 1 

238 
These growing feathers, pluck'd from Csesar's wing, 
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch : 
Who else would soar above the view of men, 
And keep us all in servile fearfulness. 29 — i. 1. 

239 

Before him 
He carries noise, and behind him he leaves tears. 

28— ii. 1. 
240 

When first this order was ordain'd, 
Knights of the garter were of noble birth ; 
Valiant, and virtuous, full of haughty courage, 
Such as were grown to credit by the wars ; 

35* 



414 MISCELLANEOUS. 

Not fearing death, nor shrinking for distress, 

But always resolute in most extremes. 21 — iv. 1. 

241 
The horn and noise o' the monsters. 28 — iii. 1. 

242 

Our fathers' minds are dead, 
And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits ; 
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish. 

29— i. 3. 
243 
Authority bears a credent bulk, 
That no particular scandal once can touch, 
But it confounds the breather. 5 — iv. 4. 

244 

Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness ; 
Or whether that the body public be 
A horse, whereon the governor doth ride, 
Who, newly in the seat, that it may know 
He can command, lets it straight feel the spur : 
Whether the tyranny be in his place, 
Or in his eminence that fills it up, 
I stagger in. 5 — i. 3. 

245 

His life is parallel'd 
Even with the stroke and line of his great justice ; 
He doth with holy abstinence subdue 
That in himself^ which he spurs on his power 
To qualify in others : were he meal'd [nous; 

With that which he corrects, then were he tyran- 
But this being so, he's just. 5 — iv. 2. 

246 

What his high hatred would effect, wants not 
A minister in his power : You know his nature, 
That he's revengeful ; and I know, his sword 
Hath a sharp edge : it's long, and, it may be said, 
It reaches far ; and where 'twill not extend, 
Thither he darts it. 25— i. 1. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 415 

247 

When he speaks not like a citizen, 
You find him like a soldier : Do not take 
His rougher accents for malicious sounds, 
But, as 1 say, such as become a soldier, 
Rather than envy you. 28 — iii. 3. 

248 

He bore him in the thickest troop, 
As doth a lion in a herd of neat : 
Or as a bear, encompass'd round with dogs ; 
Who having pinch'd a few, and made them cry, 
The rest stand all aloof, and bark at him. 23 — ii. 1. 

249 

I do not think, a braver gentleman, 

More active-valiant, or more valiant-young, 

More daring, or more bold, is now alive, 

To grace this latter age with noble deeds. 18 — v. 1. 

250 

In speech, in gait, 
In diet, in affections of delight, 
In military rules, humours of blood, 
He was the mark and glass, copy and book, 
That fashion'd others. 19 — ii. 3. 

251 

He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his 
age ; doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a 
lion : he hath, indeed, better bettered expectation. 

6— i. 1. 
252 

In war was never lion raged more fierce, 
In peace was never gentle lamb more mild. 

17 — ii. 1. 
253 

He, in his blaze of wrath, subscribes 

To tender objects ; but he, in heat of action, 

Is more vindicative than jealous love. 26 — iv. 5. 



416 MISCELLANEOUS. 

254 

He stoppM the fliers ; 
And, by his rare example, made the coward 
Turn terror into sport ; as waves before 
A vessel under sail, so men obey'd, 
And fell below his stem. 28 — ii. 2. 

255 
I had rather have my wounds to heal again, 
Than hear say how I got them. 28 — ii. 2. 

256 
Thou art a soldier, therefore seldom rich. 27 — i. 2. 

257 

His death ( whose spirit lent a fire 
Even to the dullest peasant in his camp) 
Being bruited once, took fire and heat away 
From the best temper'd courage in his troops. 

19— i. 1. 
258 

He has been bred i' the wars 
Since he could draw a sword, and is ill-school'd 
In bolted language ; meal and bran together 
He throws without distinction. 28 — iii. 1. 

259 

O, wither'd is the garland of the war, 

The soldier's pole is fallen. 30 — iv. 13. 

260 

The present wars devour him : he is grown 

Too proud to be so valiant 

Such a nature, 
Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow 
Which he treads on at noon. 28 — i. 1. 

261 

Who lined himself with hope, 
Eating the air on promise of supply, 
Flattering himself with project of a power 
Much smaller than the smallest of his thoughts; 
And so, with great imagination, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 417 

Proper to madmen, led his powers to death, 

And, winking, leap'd into destruction. 19 — i. 3. 

262 

Whilst lions war, and battle for their dens, 

Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity. 23 — ii. 5. 

263 

Our countrymen 
Are men more order'd, than when Julius Coesar 
Smiled at their lack of skill, but found their courage 
Worthy his frowning- at : Their discipline 
(Now mingled with their courages) will make known 
To their approvers, they are people, such , 

That mend upon the world. 31 — ii. 4. 

264 

A fellow 
That never set a squadron in the field, 
Nor the division of a battle knows 
More than a spinster : unless the bookish theoric, 
Wherein the toged consuls can propose 
As masterly as he : mere prattle, without practice, 
Is all his soldiership. 37 — i. 1. 

265 

The gallant militarist, that had the whole theoric* 
of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice in the 
chapef of his dagger. 11 — iv. 3. 

266 

Captain ! thou abominable cheater, art thou not 
ashamed to be called — captain I If captains were of 
my mind, they would truncheon you out, for taking 
their names upon you before you have earned them. 
You a captain, you slave ! for what? 19 — ii. 4. 

267 

That such a slave as this should wear a sword, 

Who wears no honesty ! 34 — ii. 2. 

* Theory. t The point of the scabbard. 



418 MISCELLANEOUS. 

268 

A soldier — not fierce and terrible 
Only in strokes; but with thy grim looks, and 
The thunder-like percussion of thy sounds, 
Thou mad'st thine enemies shake, as if the world 
Were feverous, and did tremble. 28 — i. 4. 

269 

A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown, 

Whose compass is no bigger than thy head ; 

And yet, incaged in so small a verge. 17— ii. 1. 

270 

My crown is in my heart, not on my head ; 

Not deck'd with diamonds and Indian stones, 

Nor to be seen; my crown is call'd, content; 

A crown it is, that seldom kings enjoy. 23 — iii. 1. 

271 

Sundry blessings hang about his throne, 

That speak him full of grace. 15 — iv. 3. 

272 

When that the general is not like the hive, 

To whom the foragers shall all repair, 

What honey is expected 1* Degree being vizarded,f 

The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask. 

The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre, 

Observe degree, priority, and place, 

Insisture,| course, proportion, season, form, 

Office, and custom, in all line of order: 

And therefore is the glorious planet, Sol,§ 

In noble eminence enthroned and sphered 

Amidst the other ; whose med'cinable eye 

Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil, 

* The meaning is, — When the general is not to the army, like the 
hive to the bees, the repository of the stock of every individual, that 
to which each particular resorts with whatever he has collected for 
the good of the whole, what honey is expected— what hope of advan- 
tage ? . f Masked. J Constancy. 
^Here is more than a hint of the Copernican system. Copernicus 
died 1543 ; twenty-one years before the birth of Shakspeare. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 419 

And posts, like the commandment of a king-, 

Sans* check, to good and bad : But, when the planets, 

In evil mixture, to disorder wander, 

What plagues, and what portents'? what mutiny ? 

What raging of the sea? shaking of earth 1 

Commotion in the winds 1 frights, changes, horrors, 

Divert and crack, rend and deracinate! 

The unity and married calm of states 

Quite from their fixture] O, when degree is shaked, 

Which is the ladder of all high designs, 

The enterprise is sick ! How could communities, 

Degrees in schools, and brother hood sj in cities, 

Peaceful commerce from dividable§ shores, 

The primogenitive and due of birth, 

Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels, 

But by degree, stand in authentic place 1 

Take but degree away, untune that string, 

And, hark, what discord follows! each thing meets 

In mere|| oppugnancy : The bounded waters 

Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores, 

And make a sop of all this solid globe : 

Strength should be lord of imbecility, 

And the rude son should strike his father dead : 

Force should be right : or, rather, right and wrong 

(Between whose endless jar justice resides) 

Should lose their names, and so should justice too. 

Then every thing includes itself in power, 

Power into will, will into appetite ; 

And appetite, an universal wolf, 

So doubly seconded with will and power, 

Must make perforce an universal prey, 

And, last, eat up himself. 

This chaos, when degree is suffocate, 

Follows the choking. 

And this neglection of degree it is, 

That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose 

It hath to climb. The general 's disdain'd 

By him one step below ; he, by the next ; 

That next, by him beneath ; so every step, 

Exampled by the first pace, that is sick 

* Without. t Force up by the roots. 

J Corporations, companies. § Divided. )| Absolute. 



420 MISCELLANEOUS. 

Of his superior, grows to an envious fever 

Of pale and bloodless emulation. 26 — i. 3. 

273 

While that the armed hand doth fight abroad, 
The advised head defends itself at home : 
For government, though high, and low, and lower, 
Put into parts, doth keep in one concent ; 
Congruing in a full and natural close, 

Like music 

Therefore doth Heaven divide 
The state of man into divers functions, 
Setting endeavour in continual motion ; 
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt, 
Obedience : for so work the honey bees ; 
Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach 
The act of order to a peopled kingdom. 
They have a king, and officers of sorts : 
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ; 
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad : 
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, 
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds; 
Which pillage they with merry march bring home 
To the tent-royal of their emperor : 
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys 
The singing masons, building roofs of gold ; 
The civil citizens kneading up the honey ; 
The poor mechanic porters crowding in 
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate ; 
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum, 
Delivering o'er to executor's pale, 
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer, — 
That many things, having full reference 
To one concent, may work contrariously : 
As many arrows, loosed several ways, 
Fly to one mark ; 

As many several ways meet in one town ; 
As many fresh streams run in one self sea ; 
As many lines close in the dial's centre ; 
So may a thousand actions, once afoot, 
End in one purpose, and be all well borne 
Without defeat. 20— i. 2. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 421 

274 

One would have lingering- wars with little cost ; 
Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings ; 
A third man thinks, without expense at all, 
By guileful fair words peace may be obtained. 

21— L 1. 
275 

Not mutinous in peace, yet bold in war. 23 — iv. 8. 

276 
Mirror of all martial men. 21 — i. 4. 

277 

Were it good, 
To set the exact wealth of all our states 
All at one cast 1 to set so rich a main 
On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour 1 
It were not good ; for therein should we read 
The very bottom and the soul of hope. 18 — iv. 1. 

278 
The commonwealth is sick of their own choice, 
Their over-greedy love hath surfeited. 19 — i. 3. 

279 
Omit no happy hour, 
That may give furtherance to our expedition : 
For we have now no thought in us but France ; 
Save those to God, that run before our business. 
Therefore, let our proportions for these wars 
Be soon collected ; and all things thought upon, 
That may, with reasonable swiftness, add 
More feathers to our wings. 20 — i. 2. 

280 

This might have been prevented, and made whole, 
With very easy arguments of love ; 
Which now the manage of two kingdoms must 
With fearful bloody issue arbitrate. 16 — i. 1. 

281 

Good fortune bids us pause, 
And smooth the frowns of war with peaceful looks. 

23— ii. 6. 
36 



422 MISCELLANEOUS. 

282 

The fat ribs of peace 
Must by the hungry now be fed upon. 16 — iii. 3. 

283 

God, if thy will be so, 
Enrich the time to come with smooth-faced peace, 
With smiling plenty, and fair prosperous days ! 

24— v. 4. 
284 
Shall we, upon the footing of our land, 
Send fair-play orders, and make compromise, 
Insinuation, parley, and base truce, 
To arms invasive 1 16 — v. 1. 

285 

Now join your hands, and, with your hands, your 

hearts, 
That no dissension hinder government. 23 — iv. 6. 

286 

Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, 

And welcome home again discarded faith. 16 — v. 4. 

287 

We will untread the steps of damned flight ; 
And, like a bated and retired flood, 
Leaving our rankness and irregular course, 
Stoop low within those bounds we have o'erlook'd 
And calmly run on in obedience. 16 — v. 4. 

288 

I find the people strangely fantasied ; 
Possess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams ; 
Not knowing what they fear, but full of fear. 

16— iv. 4. 

289 

They'll sit by the fire, and presume to know 

What's done i' the Capitol : who's like to rise, 

Who thrives, and who declines; side factions, and 

give out 
Conjectural marriages ; making parties strong, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 423 

And feebling such as stand not in their liking, 

Below their cobbled shoes. 28 — i. 1. 

290 

When drums and trumpets shall 
I' the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be 
Made all of false-faced soothing ! 28 — i. 9. 

291 

Ingratitude is monstrous: and for the multitude to 
be ingrateful, were to make a monster of the multi- 
tude. 28— ii. 3. 

292 

The Providence that's in a watchful state, 
Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold ; 
Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps ; 
Keeps place with thought, and almost, like the gods, 
Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles. 
There is a mystery in the soul of state ; 
Which hath an operation more divine, 
Than breath, or pen, can give expressure to. 

26— iii. 3. 
293 

We must not rend our subject from our laws, 
And stick them in our will. Sixth part of each 1 
A trembling contribution ! Why, we take, 
From every tree, lop, bark, and part o' the timber : 
And, though we leave 't with a root, thus hack'd, 
The air will drink the sap. 25 — i. 2. 

294 

These exactions, — 
Most pestilent to the hearing ; and to bear them, 

The back is sacrifice to the load 

This makes bold mouths : 
Tongues spit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze 
Allegiance in them : their curses now 
Live, where their prayers did ; and it's come to pass, 
That tractable obedience is a slave 
To each incensed will. 25 — i. 2. 

295 

It doth appear : for, upon these taxations, 



424 MISCELLANEOUS. 

The clothiers all, not able to maintain 

The many to them 'longing, have put off 

The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who, 

Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger, 

And lack of other means, in desperate manner 

Daring the event to the teeth, are all in uproar, 

And Danger serves among them. 25 — i. 2. 

296 

This double worship, — 
Where one part does disdain with cause, the other 
Insult without all reason ; where gentry, title, wis- 
Cannot conclude, but by the yea and no [dorn, 

Of general ignorance, — it must omit 
Real necessities, and give way the while 
To unstable slightness ; purpose so barr'd, it follows, 
Nothing is done to purpose: Therefore, beseech 

you,— 
You that will be less fearful than discreet ; 
That love the fundamental part of state, 
More than you doubt the change oft ; that prefer 
A noble life before a long, and wish 
To jump a body with a dangerous physic, 
That's sure of death without it, — at once pluck out 
The multitudinous tongue, let them not lick 
The sweet which is their poison : your dishonour 
Mangles true judgment, and bereaves the state 
By that integrity which should become it ; 
Not having the power to do the good it would, 
For the ill which doth control it. 28 — iii. 1. 

297 

It is a purposed thing, and grows by plot, 

To curb the will of the -nobility : 

Suffer it, and live with such as cannot rule, 

Nor ever will be ruled. 28 — iii. 1. 

298 

I have in equal balance justly weigh'd 

What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we 

suffer, 
And find our griefs heavier than our offences. 

19— iv. 1. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 425 

299 

When we mean to build, 
We first survey the plot, then draw the model ; 
And when we see the figure of the house, 
Then must we rate the cost of the erection : 
Which if we find outweighs ability, 
What do we then, but draw anew the model 
In fewer offices ; or, at least, desist 
To build at all 1 Much more, in this great work, 
(Which is, almost, to pluck a kingdom down, 
And set another up,) should we survey 
The plot of situation, and the model ; 
Consent upon a sure foundation ; 
Question surveyors ; know our own estate, 
How able such a work to undergo, 
To weigh against his opposite ; or else, 
We fortify in paper, and in figures, 
Using the names of men, instead of men: 
Like one, that draws the model of a house 
Beyond his power to build it ; who, half through, 
Gives o'er, and leaves his part-created cost 
A naked subject to the weeping clouds, 
And waste for churlish winter's tyranny.* 19 — i. 3. 

300 

In cases of defence, 'tis best to weigh 

The enemy more mighty than he seems : 

So the proportions of defence are fill'd ; 

Which, of a weak and niggardly projection, 

Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat, with scanting 

A little cloth. 20— ii. 4. 

301 • 

It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe : 
For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom, 
(Though war, nor no known quarrel, were in ques- 
tion,) 
But that defences, musters, preparations, 
Should be maintain'd, assembled, and collected, 
As were a war in expectation. 20 — ii. 4. 

* Luke xiv. 28, &c. 

36* 



426 MISCELLANEOUS. 

302 
Tf we 
Cannot defend our own door from the dog, 
Let us be worried ; and our nation lose 
The name of hardiness, and policy. 20— i. 2. 

303 

They tax our policy, and call it cowardice; 

Count wisdom as no member of the war; 

Forestall prescience, and esteem no act 

But that of hand : the still and mental parts, — 

That do contrive how many hands shall strike, 

When fitness calls them on ; and know, by measure 

Of their observant toil, the enemies' weight, — 

Why, this hath not a finger's dignity : 

They call this — bed-work, mappery, closet-war. 

So that the ram, that batters down the wall, 

For the great swing and rudeness of his poise, 

They place before his hand, that made the engine ; 

Or those, that with the fineness of their souls, 

By reason guide his execution. 26 — i. 3. 

304 

Take heed 
How you awake the sleeping sword of war ; 
We charge you in the name of God, take heed : 
For never two such kingdoms did contend, 
Without much fall of blood ; whose guiltless drops 
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint, 
'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the swords 
That make such waste in brief mortality. 20 — i. 2. 

305 

Will you again unknit 
This churlish knot of all-abhorred war 1 
And move in that obedient orb again, 
Where you did give a fair and natural light ; 
And be no more an exhaled meteor, 
A prodigy of fear, and a portent 
Of broached mischief to the unborn times 1 18 — v. 1. 

306 

'Tis better using France, than trusting : 

Let us be back'd with God, and with the seas, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 427 

Which he hath given for fence impregnable, 

And with their helps only defend ourselves ; 

In them, and in ourselves, our safety lies. 23 — iv. 1. 

307 
The king-becoming graces, 
Are justice, verity, temperance, stableness, 
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, 
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, 15 — iv. 3. 

308 

That man, that sits within a monarch's heart, 

And ripens in the sunshine of his favour, 

Would he abuse the countenance of the king, 

Alack, what mischiefs might be set abroach, 

In shadow of such greatness ! 19 — iv. 2. 

309 

Great princes' favourites their fair leaves spread, 
But as the marigold at the sun's eye ; 
And in themselves their pride lies buried, 
For at a frown they in their glory die. 
The painful warrior famoused for fight, 
After a thousand victories once foil'd, 
Is from the book of honour razed quite, 
And all the rest forgot for which he toil'd. 

Poems. 

310 

They do abuse the king that flatter him : 

For flattery is the bellows blows up sin ; 

The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark, 

To which that breath gives heat and stronger glowing; 

Whereas reproof, obedient and in order, 

Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err. 

33— i. 2. 
311 
Majesty might never yet endure 
The moody frontier of a servant brow. 18 — i. 3. 

312. 

The strawberry grows underneath the nettle ; 
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, 
Neigh bour'd by fruit of baser quality : 



428 MISCELLANEOUS. 

And so the prince obscured his contemplation 
Under the veil of wildness ; which, no doubt, 
Grew like the .summer-giass, fastest by night, 
Unseen, jet crescive* in his faculty. 20 — i. 1. 

313 

The single and peculiar life is bound, 
With all the strength and armour of the mind, 
To keep itself from 'noyance; but much more 
That spirit, upon whose weal depend and rest 
The lives of many. The cease of majesty 
Dies not alone ; but, like a gulf, doth draw 
What's near it, with it : it is a massy wheel, 
Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount, 
To whose huge spokes, ten thousand lesser things 
Are mortised and adjoin'd ; which, when it falls, 
Each small annexment, petty consequence, 
Attends the boist'rous ruin. Never alone 
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan. 

36— iii. 3. 
314 

A sceptre, snatch'd with an unruly hand, 

Must be as boisterously maintain'd as gain'd : 

And he, that stands upon a slippery place, 

Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up. 16 — iii. 4. 

315 

The presence of a king engenders love 

Amongst his subjects, and his loyal friends ; 

As it disanimates his enemies. 21 — iii. 1. 

316 
Never was monarch better fear'd and loved, 
Than is your majesty ; there's not, I think, a subject, 
That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness 
Under the sweet shade of your government. 20 — ii. 2. 

317 

Within the hollow crown, 
That rounds the mortal temples of a king, 
Keeps Death his court : and there the antic sits, 
Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp ; 

* Increasing. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 429 

Allowing him a breath, a little scene 

To monarch ize, be fear'd, and kill with looks ; 

Infusing him with self and vain conceit, — 

As if this flesh, which walls about our life, 

Were brass impregnable, and, humour'd thus, 

Comes at the last, and with a little pin 

Bores through his castle wall, and — farewell king ! 

17— iii. 2. 
318 
We are no tyrant, but a Christian king ; 
Unto whose grace our passion is as subject, 
As are our wretches, fetter'd in our prisons. 20 — i. 2. 

319 
O hard condition ! twin-born with greatness, 
Subjected to the breath of every fool, 
Whose sense no more can feel but his own wringing ! 
What infinite heart's ease must kings neglect, 
That private men enjoy 1 

And what have kings that privates have not too, 
Save ceremony, save general ceremony ? 
And what art thou, thou idol ceremony 1 
What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more 
Of mortal griefs, than do thy worshippers 1 
What are thy rents 1 what are thy comings-in 1 
O ceremony, show me but thy worth ! 
What is the soul of adoration 1 
Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form, 
Creating awe and fear in other men] 
Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd 
Than they in fearing. 

What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, 
But poison'd flattery 1 O, be sick, great greatness, 
And bid thy ceremony give thee cure ! 
Think'st thou, the fiery fever will go out 
With titles blown from adulation 1 
Will it give place to flexure and low bending 1 
Canst thou, when thou command'st the beggar's knee, 
Command the health of it 1 No, thou proud dream, 
That play'st so subtly with a king's repose. 

20— iv. I. 
320 
'Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball, 
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, 



430 MISCELLANEOUS. 

The enter-tissued robe of gold and pearl, 

The farced title running 'fore the king. 

The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp 

That beats upon the high shore of this world — 

No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, 

Not all these, laid in bed majestical, 

Can .sleep so soundly as the wretched slave : 

Who, with a body fill'd, and vacant mind, 

Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread ; 

Never sees horrid night, the child of hell ; 

But, like a lackey,, from the rise to set, 

Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night 

Sleeps in Elysium; next day, after dawn, 

Doth rise, and help Hyperion to his horse ; 

And follows so the ever-running year 

With profitable labour, to his grave : 

And, but for ceremony, such a wretch, 

Winding up days with toil, and nights with sleep, 

Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king. 20 — iv. 1. 

321 

Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade 
To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep, 
Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy 
To kings, that fear their subjects' treachery 1 
O, yes, it doth ; a thousand-fold it doth. 

The shepherd's homely curds, 
His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle* 
His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade* 
All which secure and sweetly he enjoys, 
Is far beyond a prince's delicates, 
His viands sparkling in a golden cup, 
His body couched in a curious bed, 
When care, mistrust, and treason wait on him. 

23— iL 5. 

322 

The colour of the king doth come and go, 
Between his purpose and his conscience, 
Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles set. 

16— iv. 2. 

323 
O polish'd perturbation ! golden care ! 



MISCELLANEOUS. 451 

That keep'st the ports* of slumber open wide 
To many a watchful night ! — sleep with it now J 
Yet not so sound, and half so deeply sweet, 
As he, whose brow, with homely biggin bound, 

Snores out the watch of night. O majesty ! 

When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit 

Like a rich armour, worn in heat of day, 

That scalds with safety. 19 — iv. 4. 

324 

Let me speak, sir, 
For Heaven now bids me ; and the words I utter 
Let none think flattery, for they'll find them truth. 
This royal infant, (Heaven still move about her I) 
Though in her cradle, yet now promises 
Upon this land a thousand thousand blessings, 
Which time shall bring to ripeness : She shall be 
(But few now living, can behold that goodness) 
A pattern to all princes, living with her, 
And all, that shall succeed : Sheba was never 
More covetous of wisdom, and fair virtue, 
Than this pure soul shall be : all princely graces, 
That mould up such a mighty piece as- this is, 
With all the virtues that attend the good, 
Shall still be doubled on her : Truth shall nurse her, 
Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her : 
She shall be loved and fear'd : Her own shall bless 

her : 
Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn, 
And hang their heads with sorrow : Good grows with 

her: 
In her days, every man shall eat in safety 
Under his own vine, what he plants; and sing 
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours : 
God shall be truly known ; and those about her 
From her shall read the perfect ways of honour, 
And by those claim their greatness, not by blood. 
Nor shall this peace sleep with her : But as when 
The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix, 
Her ashes new create another heir, 
As great in admiration a9 herself; 

* Gates, 



432 MISCELLANEOUS. 

So shall she leave her blessedness to one, 
(When heaven shall call her from this cloud of dark- 
ness,) 
Who, from the sacred ashes of her honour, 
Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was, 
And so stand fix'd : Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror, 
That were the servants to this chosen infant, 
Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him ; 
Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine, 
His honour and the greatness of his name 
Shall be, and make new nations : He shall flourish, 
And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches 
To all the plains about him : — Our children's children 
Shall see this, and bless Heaven. 25 — v. 4. 

325 

Now call we our high court of parliament : 
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel, 
That the great body of our state may go 
In equal rank with the best-govern'd nation. 

19— v. 2. 
326 

The commons, like an angry hive of bees, 
That want their leader, scatter up and down, 
And care not who they sting in his revenge. 

22— iii. 2. 
327 

No simple man that sees 
This jarring discord of nobility, 
This should'ring of each other in the court, 
This factious bandying of their favourites, 
But that it doth presage some ill event. 
'Tis much, when sceptres are in children's hands ; 
But more, when envy breeds unkind division : 
There come's the ruin, there begins confusion. 

21— iv. 1. 
328 

This late dissension, grown betwixt the peers, 
Burns under feigned ashes of forged love, 
And will at last break out into a flame : 
As fester'd members rot but by degrees, 
Till bones, and flesh, and sinews, fall away, 
So will this base and envious discord breed. 

21— iii. 1. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 433 

323 

Thus we debase 
The nature of our seats, and make the rabble 
Call our cares, fears : which will in time break ope 
The locks o' the senate, and bring in the crows 
To peck the eagles. 28 — iii. 1. 

330 
Let our alliance be combined, 
Our best friends made, and our best means stretchM 

out; 
And let us presently go sit in council, 
How covert matters may be best disclosed, 
And open perils surest answer'd. 29 — iv. 1. 

331 

Time it is, when raging war is done, 

To smile at 'scapes and perils over -blown. 12 — v. 2. 

332 

I will use the olive with my sword : 

Make war breed peace ; make peace stint war ; make 

each 
Prescribe to other, as each other's leech. 27 — v. 5. 

333 

No more shall trenching war channel her fields, 

Nor bruise her flowrets with the armed hoofs 

Of hostile paces : those opposed eyes, 

Which, — like the meteors of a troubled heaven, 

All of one nature, of one substance bred, — 

Did lately meet in the intestine shock 

And furious close of civil butchery. 

Shall now, in mutual, well-beseeming ranks, 

March all one way ; and be no more opposed 

Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies : 

The edge of war, like an ill- sheathed knife, 

No more shall cut his master. 18 — i. 1. 

334 

Then, if you fight against God's enemy, 
God will, in justice, ward you as his soldiers ; 
If you do sweat to put a tyrant down, 
You sleep in peace, the tyrant being slain ; 

37 



434 MISCELLANEOUS. 

If you do fight against your country's foes, 
Your country's fat shall pay your pains the hire ; 
If you do fight in safeguard of your wives, 
Your wives shall welcome home the conquerors; 
If you do free your children from the sword, 
Your children's children quit it in your age. 

24— v. 3. 
335 
O war, thou son of hell ! 
Whom angry heavens do make their minister. 

22— v. 2. 

336 

This battle fares like to the morning's war, 

When dying clouds contend with growing light ; 

What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails, 

Can neither call it perfect day, nor night. 

Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea, 

Forced by the tide to combat with the wind ; 

Now sways it that way, like the self-same sea, 

Forced to retire by fury of the wind : 

Sometime, the flood prevails ; and then, the wind ; 

Now, one the better ; then, another best ; 

Both tugging to be victor, breast to breast, 

Yet neither conqueror, nor conquered : 

So is the equal poise of this fell war. 23 — ii. 5. 

337 

The cannons have their bowels full of wrath ; 

And ready mounted are they, to spit forth 

Their iron indignation, 16 — ii. 2. 

338 

Doubtfully it stood ; 
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together, 
And choke their art. 15 — i. 1. 

339 

He could not 
Carry his honours even : whether 'twas pride, 
Which out of daily fortune ever taints 
The happy man ; whether defect of judgment, 
To fail in the disposing of those chances 
Which he was lord of; or whether nature, 
Not to be other than one thing, not moving 
From the casque to the cushion, but commanding peace 



MISCELLANEOUS. 435 

Even with the same austerity and garb 

As he controll'd the war. 28 — iv. 7. 

340 

I raised him, and I pawn'd 
Mine honour for his truth : Who being so heighten'd, 
He water'd his new plants with dews of flattery, 
Seducing so my friends : and, to this end, 
He bow'd his nature, never known before 
But to be rough, unswayable, and free. 28 — v. 5. 

341 

You shout me forth 
In acclamations hyperbolical ; 
As if I loved my little should be dieted 
In praises sauced with lies. 28 — i. 9. 

342 

He now, forsooth, takes on him to reform 

Some certain edicts, and some strait decrees, 

That lie too heavy on the commonwealth : 

Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep 

Over his country's wrongs ; and, by this face, 

This seeming brow of justice, did he win 

The hearts of all that he did angle for. 18 — iv. 3. 

343 
O, he sits high in all the people's hearts ; 
And that which would appear offence in us, 
His countenance, like richest alchymy, 
Will change to virtue, and to worthiness. 29 — i. 3. 

344 

The gentleman is learn'd, and a most rare speaker, 

To nature none more bound ; his training such, 

That he may furnish and instruct great teachers, 

And never seek for aid out of himself 

Yet see, 

When these so noble benefits shall prove 

Not well disposed, the mind growing once corrupt, 

They turn to vicious forms, ten times more ugly, 

Than ever they were fair. 25 — i. 2. 

345 

At some time when his soaring insolence 



436 MISCELLANEOUS. 

Shall teach the people (which time shall not want, 

If he be put upon't ; and that's as easy, 

As to set dogs on sheep), will be his fire 

To kindle their dry stubble ; and their blaze 

Shall darken him for ever. 28 — ii. 1. 

346 
To the common people — 
How he did seem to dive into their hearts, 
With humble and familiar courtesy ; 
What reverence he did throw away on slaves ; 
Wooing poor craftsmen, with the craft of smiles, 
And patient underbearing of his fortune, 
As 'twere, to banish their affects with him. 
Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench ; 
A brace of draymen bid — God speed him well, 
And had the tribute of his supple knee, 
With — Thanks, my countrymen, my loving friends. 

17— i. 4. 

347 

He speaks home ; you may relish him more in the 
soldier, than in the scholar. 37 — ii. 1. 

348 

This man so complete. 
Who was enroll'd 'mongst wonders, and when we, 
Almost with ravish'd list'ning, could not find 
His hour of speech a minute ; he 
Hath into monstrous habits put the graces, 
That once were his, and is become as black 
As if besmear'd in helL 25 — L 2. 

349 

God forbid 
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading, 
Or nicely charge your understanding soul 
With opening titles miscreate, whose right 
Suits not in native colours with the truth. 20 — i. 2. 

350 

O, who shall believe, 
But you misuse the reverence of your place ; 
Employ the countenance and grace of Heaven, 
As a false favourite doth his prince's name, 
In deeds dishonourable 1 19 — iv. 2. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 437 

351 

For holy offices I have a time ; a time 

To think upon the part of business, .which 

I bear i' the state ; and nature does require 

Her times of preservation, which, perforce, 

I, her frail son, amongst my brethren mortal, 

Must give my tendance to. 25 — iii. 2. 

352 
He was a man 
Of an unbounded stomach, ever ranking 
Himself with princes; one that, by suggestion, 
Tied all the kingdom : simony was fair play; 
His own opinion was his law : I' the presence 
He would say untruths ; and be ever double, 
Both in his words and meaning. He was never, 
But where he meant to ruin, pitiful ; 
His promises were, as he then was, mighty ; 
But his performance, as he is now, nothing. 

25— iv. 2. 

353 
It better show'd with you, 
When that your flock, assembled by the bell, 
Encircled you, to hear with reverence 
Your exposition on the holy text ; 
Than now to see you here an iron man, 
Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum, 
Turning the word to sword, and life to death. 

19— iv. 2. 

354 

Oft have 1 seen the haughty cardinal — 

More like a soldier, than a man o' the church, 

As stout, and proud, as he were lord of all. 22 — L 1. 

355 

You are meek and humble-mouth'd ; 
You sign your place and calling, in full seeming, 
With meekness and humility : but your heart 
Is cramm'd with arrogancy, spleen, and pride. 
You have, by fortune, 

Gone slightly o'er low steps ; and now are mounted, 
Where powers are your retainers : and your words, 
Domestics to you, serve your will, as't please 
Yourself pronounce their office. 25— ii. 4 

37* 



438 MISCELLANEOUS. 

356 

You, lord archbishop, — 
Whose see is by a civil peace raaintain'd ; 
Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd ; 
Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor'd ; 
Whose white investments figure innocence, 
The dove and very blessed spirit of peace, — 
Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself, 
Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace, 
Into the harsh and boisterous tongue of war 1 

19— iv. 1. 
357 
These things, indeed, you have articulated, 
To face the garment of rebellion 
With some fine colour, that may please the eye 
Of fickle changelings, and poor discontents, 
Whieh gape and rub the elbow, at the news 
Of hurlyburly innovation : 
And never yet did insurrection want 
Such water-colours, to impaint his cause ; 
Nor moody beggars, starving for a time 
Of pell-mell havoc and confusion. 18 — v. 1. 



358 

You look pale, and gaze, 
And put on fear, and cast yourself in wonder, 
To see the strange impatience of the heavens : 
But if you would consider the true cause, 
Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts, 
Why birds, and beasts, from quality and kind ; 
Why old men, fools, and children calculate; 
Why all these things change, from their ordinance, 
Their natures, and pre-formed faculties, 
To monstrous quality ; why, you shall find, 
That Heaven hath infused them with these spirits, 
To make them instruments of fear, and warning, 
Unto some monstrous state. 29 — i. 3. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 439 

359 

In the most high and palmy state of Rome, 

A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, 

The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead 

Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets. 

As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,* 
Disasters in the sun ; and the moist star, 
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands, 
Was sick almost to dooms-day with eclipse. 36 — i. 1. 

360 

There is one within, 
Besides the things that we have heard and seen, 
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. 
A lioness hath whelped in the streets ; 
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead : 
Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds, 
In ranks, and squadrons, and right form of war, 
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol : 
The noise of battle hurtled in the air, 
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan ; 
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. 

29— ii. 2. 
361 

The people fear me ; for they do observe 

Unfather'd heirs, and loathly birds of nature : 

The seasons change their manners, as the year 

Had found some months asleep, and leap'd them over. 

The river hath thrice flow'd, no ebb between : 

And the old folk, time's doting chronicles, 

Say, it did so, a little time before 

That our great grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died. 

19— iv. 4. 

* In the Prodigies, 36— i. 1. all the editions read "As, stars with 
trains of fire and dews of blood, "&c. and this has caused all the com- 
mentators to conclude something preceding has been lost ; but I 
am of a different opinion : by reading " Stars fought with trains of 
fire, and dews of blood," &.c. the sense is complete, and in accord- 
;. ice with the prodigy mentioned in Julius Caesar, 29 — ii. 2. "Fierce 
fiery warriors fight upon the clouds," &c. See also, Judges v. 20, 
" The stars in their courses fought against Sisera." 



440 MISCELLANEOUS. 

362 

The night has been unruly : Where we lay, 

Our chimneys were blown down : and, as they say, 

Lamentings heard i' the air ; strange screams of death; 

And prophesying, with accents terrible, 

Of dire combustion, and confused events, 

New hatch'd to the woful time. The obscure bird 

Clamour'd the live-long night : some say, the earth 

Was feverous, and did shake. 15 — ii. 3. 

363 

They say, five moons were seen to-night : 
Four fixed ; and the fifth did whirl about 
The other four, in wondrous motion. 16 — iv. 2. 

364 

Threescore and ten I can remember well : 
Within the volume of which time, I have seen 
Hours dreadful, and things strange ; but this sore night 
Hath trifled former knowings. 

On Tuesday last, 
A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place, 
Was by a mousing owl, hawk'd at, and kill'd. 
And Duncan's horses (a thing most strange and cer- 
tain), 
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, 
Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, 
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make 
War with mankind. 
'Tis said, they eat each other. 15 — ii. 4. 



THE END. 



INDEX 



TO 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



Abasement, 752 
Accusation, 430,570,571, 624 
Acquaintanceship, 538 
Action and elocution, 606 
Actions, human, 18 
Adoption, 134 
Adversity, 54, 110, 149, 615 
and prosperity, 263 
the uses of, 291 
Advice, 625, 627, 628, 629, 
630, 631, 632, 633, 634, 
639, 640, 641, 642, 643 
Affection, 224 

conjugal, 647, 648, 

649, 650 
false, 442 
natural, 493, 494 
Affections, 287 
Affliction, 360, 492 

fortitude in, 290 
Age and youth, 89, 348, 662 
Ambition, 154, 208, 316, 529, 
568 
and content, 239 
Anger, 150, 552, 668, 682 
female, 368 
its mitigation, 209 
and reason, 543 
Anguish, 659 
Anticipation, 421 
Apathy, 7 

Appearances, 261, 364, 401 
Arrogance, 137 
Art and nature, 33 



Ascendency, female, 369 
Attention, 695 
Authority, 73,138,151,163 
Avarice, 335, 392, 479 



Beauty, 636 

frailty of, 497 
and goodness, 645 
truth, 232 
Benediction, 613, 707, 708, 

709, 710,711, 712 
Benignity, 671 
Blessings, 11, 198 



Calamity, 148 

Calumny, 50, 69,125,416 

Camomile and youth, 188 

Care, 523 

Carefulness, 489 

Carnality, 85 

Causes, 726 

honourable, 562 
Caution, 144 
Ceremony, 127 
Chastity, 638 
Circumspection, 327 
Circumstances, 485 
Comfort, cold, 103 
false, 158 
unseasonable, 75 
Commotion, 409 
Communication, 417 



442 



INDEX TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



Comparison, 387 
Companionship, 57 
Compassion, 558 
Complaints, 384 
Concealment, 681 
Condemnation, 733 
Confidence, 24 
Conflict, 545 

mental, 701 
Connivance, 143 
Conquest, 534, 537 
Conscience, 164, 276, 345, 

455, 499, 656 
guilty, 308, 693 
Consideration, 557 
Consolation, 714 
Contamination, 692 
Content and ambition, 239 

discontent, 213 
Contention, 322, 476, 481 

evil of, 765 
Contentment, 15, 47, 191 
Conversion, 749 
Corruption, 341, 441 
Courage, 45, 690, 691 
Counsel, ill-timed, 700 
Courses, bad, 280 
Courtesy, pretended, 116 
Courtier and peasant, 218 
Cowardice and courage, 337, 
666 
patience, 135, 
Craftiness, 496 
Crime, 325 
Crisis, 136 

Crosses and cares, 767 
Cruelty, insecure, 296 

and lenity, 131 
Cultivation, mental, 602 

and sterility, 114 
Custom, 36 
Customs, new, 270 

Dalliance, 637 
Daringness, 473 
Death, 19, 170, 173,251,517, 
720, 721, 722 
joy in, 769, 770 



Death, joyous expectation of, 
772 
triumph over, 764 
Debatement, 454 
Deceivers, 194 
Defects, natural, 221 
Deformity, mental, 86 
Delays, dangerous, 248, 547 
Delights, 346 

violent, 653 
Delusion, 49, 654 
Dependance, 40, 450 
Depravity, 79, 91 
Desertion, 21 
Desires, violent, 484 
Despair and hope, 44 
Destiny, 399 
Determination, 197 
Detraction, 34 
Developement, 93 
Devotion, 713, 763 
Discernment, 698 
Discipline, 193, 390 
Discontent and content, 213 
Discordance, 336 
Discretion, 328, 620 
Disease, 126 
Disguise, 182 
Disinterestedness, 200 
Disquietude, 202 
Dissimulation, 35 
Distrust, 255 

Divine superintendence, 716 
Drunkenness, 376, 382, 590, 

677 
Duelling, 556 
Duplicity, 68, 358 
Duty, 433, 559 

neglected, 142 



Earth, nature's mother, 235 
Elevation, 17, 514 
Elocution and action, 606 
Eloquence, silent, 111 
Energy, 244 
Envy, 332 

influence of, 509 



INDEX TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



443 



Equanimity, 549 
Equivocation, 652 
Evil, 283 

and good, 132, 237, 419 
Evils, 28, 250 
Exaltation, 157, 203 
Examination, self, 622 
Example, 243 

and precept, 123, 
644 
Exasperation, 423 
Excellence, 394 
Excess, 165, 347 
Exertion, self, 247 
Expectations, 240 
Experience, 254, 372, 393 
Exposure, self, 696 
Extenuation, 608 
Extremes, 699 
Extremity, 112, 686 

Face, 457 

Falsehood, 71 

Fame, 22, 66, 109, 470 

Famine and plenty, 445 

Farewell and welcome, 259 

Fashion, 271 

Father, 446 

Faults, 167 

extenuation of, 3 
Fear, 65, 309, 326, 355, 501 
and love, 133 

sloth, 486 
Fickleness, 67, 141 
Fidelity, 77, 156, 431, 553 
554, 669 

conjugal, 395 
Flattery, 82, 146, 508, 420 
Folly, 269 

and wisdom, 267 
Foolery, 155 
Forbearance, 603 
Forgiveness, 673 
Forethought, 566, 567, 676 
Fortitude, 148, 329, 694 
Fortune, 120, 220 
Frailty, 407, 528 



Friends, 465, 595 

departed, 226 
parting, 706 
unstable, 315 
Friendship, 58, 404 
cold, 160 
faithless, 480 
hollow, 272, 477 
with the wicked, 
234 
Frivolity, 572 
Future, 550 

and past, 5, 211 
Futurity, 402 

Gifts, bartered, 331 

not our own, 1, 2 

God, authority from, 759 
Christian's hope, 751 
pleading with, 753 
the widow's friend, 754 

God's care over his crea- 
tures, 748 
precedure, 323 

Glory, 321 

and wealth, 177 
worldly, 90 

Gold, 389, 396, 397 

Good and evil, 132, 237, 419 

Goodness, 362 

Grace, 717, 718, 757 

its conflict, 174 

Gratitude, 461 

Greatness, 427, 518 

Grief, 14, 179, 246, 491, 646, 
658 
and joy, 356 

Guile, 63 

Guilt, 452, 503, 702 
terrors of, 734 

Habit, 655 
Happiness, 59 

human, 512, 513 

real, 238 
Heaven, 755 
Home, 535 



444 



INDEX TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



Honesty, 596 

Honour, 400, 422, 431, 592, 
594 
and policy, 589 
Honours, 23, 439 
Hope, 175, 548 

and despair, 44 
Hopes, 350 
Humanity, 588 
Humility, 428, 565, 768 

feigned, 192 
Hypocrisy, 64, 88, 302, 410, 
504, 723 

Imagination, 353, 375 
Imaginations, 97 
Imbecility, 462 
Impediments, 52 
Imperfection, 478, 561 
Impiety, 37 
Implacability, 678 
Indulgence, over-, 471 
Inexperience, 408 
Infatuation, 343, 344 
Infection, 252 
Infirmity, 230 
Ingratitude, 415, 424, 438, 

488, 580, 610, 667 
Injuries, 584 
Insinuations, 51, 306 
Inspection, self, 426, 604 
Intellectual advancement, 62 
Intemperance, 16, 334, 555 
Interest, self, 9 
Interposition, 92 

Jealousy, 374, 453, 460, 651 

Jests, 268, 338, 569 

Joy and grief, 356 

Judging, 688 

impartiality of, 524 

Judgment, 101,184,301 
divine, 732 
and taste, 286 

Justice, divine, 74 

due to heaven, 299 



Justice, public, 128 

retributive, 206 
self, 593 
severe, 313 



Kindness, 581, 600, 670 
Kings, 166,429 
Knowledge, 104, 105, 106, 
386, 542, 560 

and virtue, 176 



Labour, 124, 130 
Lamentation, 42 
Learning and wisdom, 284 
Lenity, 587 

and cruelty, 131 
Licentiousness, 95 
Life, 199,212,219,242,515, 
527 
brevity of, 342, 724, 778 
human, 305, 333 
instability of, 521 
suspension of, 474 
Love, 228, 264, 275, 312, 349, 
354, 403, 447, 449, 459 
decay of, 256 
and fear, 133 



Magnanimity, 684 

Malice, 215, 432 

Man, difference in, 169 
fall of, 727 
frailty of, 99, 528 
not a slave to sense, 107 
to be studied, 490 
and woman, 363 

Man's estimation, 233 

Mankind, 91, 294 

variableness of, 310 

Manners, 122 

Marriage, 367, 413, 414, 635 

Means of Heaven, 536 

Meekness, 425 

Melancholy, 231, 273, 674 



INDEX TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



445 



Men, their characters, 190 

dying, 8 

wise, 6 
Mercy, 72, 1 19, 680, 705, 728 

pretended, 204 
Mercies, 729, 730 
Merit, 117, 118 
Mind, 113, 531, 619 

disordered, 371 
Minds, weak, 60, 78 
Mildness, 577, 578 
Miracles and means, 27 
Mirth and sorrow, 468 
Mischief, 207 
Misconception, 115 
Misconstruction, 180 
Modesty, 61, 526 
Mortality, 279 
Murder, 736, 737 

and treason, 205 

Name, 463 

good, 216 
Nature, 607, 614 

and art, 33 

human, 139, 186,288 
418 

perverted, 236 

weakness of, 183 
News, 171, 563 
Novelty, 26 

desire of, 522 

Oath, 562 

Oaths, solemnity of, 540 
Obduracy, 766 
Obedience, 140, 161 
Observation, 616 
Obstinacy, 94 
Occupation, 380, 381 
Office, 178 
Omnipotence, 324 
Opinion of things, 440 
Opinions, modern and pre- 
sent, 4 
Opportunity personified, 532 
38 



Opportunity, present, 258 
Oppression, 80, 41 1, 444, 664, 

665 
Order, universal, 378 

Pardon, 359 
Passion, 388, 703 

■ and reason, 585 
Passions, mental, 201 
Past and future, 5, 211 
Patience, 249, 330, 597, 598, 
621 
and cowardice, 135 
Peace, 435 

Peasant and courtier, 218 
Performances and promises, 

129 
Perseverance, 576 
Persuasion, 579 
Pirates, prodigality of, 365 
Pleasure, 370 

and knowledge, 530 
labour, 130 
Plenty and famine, 445 
Poetry, 391 
Policy, 458 

and honour, 589 
Pomp, 227 

and power, 304 
Popularity, 295 
Poverty and pride, 377 

riches, 181, 265 
Power, 36, 456 

insolence of, 222 
loss of, 274 
mental, 357 
and pomp, 304 
supernatural, 760 
Practice and theory, 159, 475 
Praise, 583 

false, 70 
self, 153, 443 
Prayers, 41 

feigned, 761 
insincere, 196 
Precept and example, 123 
Precipitancy, 412, 623 



446 



INDEX TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



Prediction, 253 

Predictions, 519, 520 

Prejudice, 121 

Prevention, 172 

Pleasure and knowledge, 530 

Pride, 32, 46 

effects of, 189 
and poverty, 377 

Pride's mirror, 32, 225 

Principle, want of, 469 

Procrastination, 38 

Profligacy, 448 

Prosperity and adversity, 263 

Protection, divine, 762 

Providence, 25, 715, 740 

Provocation, 731 

Prudence, 162, 697 

Punishment, 451 

Qualifications, 464 

Reason, 379, 388, 543, 582, 
687 
and passion, 585 
Rebellion, filial, 96 
Reconciliation, 689, 704 
Recreation, 43 
Redemption, 727 
Reflection, 685 
Reformation, 741 
Reparation, 618 
Repentance, 98 

false, 744, 745, 
746, 747 

true, 742, 743 
Repose, 591 
Reputation, 53 
Resignation, 487, 541, 660 

want of, 758 
Resolve, 506 

Retirement, devotional, 771 
Retribution, 317 
Revenge, 373, 505 
Reverence, 314 
Riches, 223, 282 

and poverty, 181, 265 
Rumour, 55, 56, 292 



Sarcasm, 266 
Satan, 84 
Satiety, 340 
Secrecy, 516 
Security, confident, 311 
Selfishness, 483 
Servants, faithful, 661 
Severity, 657 
Service, 495 
Servitude, 675 

Shakspeare's apostrophe to 
his soul, 779 

cure of self-love, 
777 
detestation of a thea- 
trical life, 775, 776 
his faith and hope in 

Christ, 780 
humility, 773,774 
on the shortness of life, 
778 
Sight, clearest, 307 
Silence, 352, 472, 498 
Simplicity, 339, 679 
Sincerity, 29, 31, 573, 611 
Slander, 217, 398 
Solemnity, 262 
Somnambulism, 511 
Sorrow, 30, 289, 318, 405, 
436, 507, 510, 539, 599 
and mirth, 468 
Sorrows, past, 683 

subdued, 102 
Soul, 719 

Sovereignty, divine, 756 
Station, 300 

Sterility and cultivation, 114 
Strength, danger of reliance 

in, 303 
Stubbornness, 195 
Studies, 605 

Studiousness, over-, 285 
Submission, 564, 609, 626, 

738, 739, 750 
Sufferance, 544 
Sufferings, 210, 229 
Suicide, 546, 575 
Supplication, 725 



INDEX TO CHARACTERS. 



447 



Suspicion, 361,482, 525, 586 
Sympathy, 229, 467 

Taste and judgment, 286 
Temperance, 551 
Theory and practice, 159,475 
Things opposed, 672 

unavoidable, 574 
Time, 108, 257, 277, 278, 

293, 298, 319, 502 
personified, 533 
Time's progress, 385 
Timidity, 100, 241 
Traducement, 81 
Treachery, 13 
Treason, 214, 366 

and murder, 205 
Trials, 406 

fortitude in, 245 
Troubles, 500 
Truth and beauty, 232 

beauty's ornament, 297 

Valour, false, 152 
Vice, effrontery of, 48 



Vicissitudes of life, 187 
Virtue, 20, 145,185,260,281 
and knowledge, 176 
vice, 39, 83, 87 
Vows, sincere, 351 

Wealth and glory, 177 
Welcome and farewell, 259 
Wicked, vengeance on, 168 
Wickedness, 320 
Wisdom, 10, 147, 612, 617 
and folly, 267 
learning^284 
Wishes, 12 
Woes, 6 

Woman and man, 363 
World, ill, 466 
World, 601 
Worth, 76 
Wretchedness, self, 437 

Youth, 663 

and age, 89, 348, 662 
camomile, 188 



INDEX TO CHARACTERS. 



Noble or superior - 

Inferior - 

Depraved and hypocritical 



No. 1 to 178 

— 179 to 445 

— 446 to 578 



FEMALE CHARACTERS. 



Superior 
Inferior 



No. 579 to 609 
— 610 to 646 



INDEX 



TO 



PAINTINGS OF NATURE AND 
THE PASSIONS. 



Affection, 312, 313, 320, 325, 

331, 332, 352, 353 
Affliction, 251, 252 
Anger, 391 
Angling, 81 

Appearances, deceitful, 359 
Assignation, 291 
Autumn, 67 

Beauty, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 
102, 103, 106, 111, 114, 
117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 
123, 126, 140 
in death, 85 
modesty, 108 
in sleep, 98 
transient, 104 
in tears, 121, 127 
and virtue, 115, 116, 
141, 142 
Bee, 74 
Blushes, innocent, 137 

Cliff, 89, 90, 91, 92 
Clouds, various, 50, 51 
Conflict, mental, 224, 381, 

382 
Constancy, 326 
Cultivation, 69 
Cupid, 314 

Day-break, 44 

Death, 86, 170,171,172,174, 

175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 

180, 181 



Death, approach of, 164, 165, 
166, 167, 168, 169, 173 
grave, 87 
prospect of, 255 
Desertion, in trouble, 257 
Distress, mental, 227 
Dreams, 145, 146, 147, 148, 
149 



Envy, 387, 388 

Evening, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 

Eye, 110, 129 

Eyes, 105, 112,113,124,125 

Fairy, 75, 77 

Fear, 380 

Flowers, 71, 72, 73, 74, 77 

Forest, 93, 94 

Graces, natural, 95 

Grief, 182, 184, 185, 186, 187, 
188, 192, 193, 194, 195, 
196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 
201,202, 211,213,215, 
216,220,221, 222,226, 
237, 239, 242, 243, 244, 
245, 247, 249, 254 
how mitigated, 235, 236 
and patience, 212 
with needless help, 250 
prayer in, 248 
puissant, 241 
for a son, 240 



INDEX TO NATURE AND THE PASSIONS. 



449 



Honesty, 378 
Ingratitude, 393 

Jealousv, 357, 383, 384, 385, 

386 
Joy, excess of, 259, 260, 262, 
263, 265, 266 

and grief, 258, 267 

mutual, 268 

and sorrow, 138,261,264 

Kiss, 318 

Kisses, 322 

Lamentation, 228, 246 
deep, 253 
Lion, dying, 163 
Love, 270, 271, 272, 273,274, 
275, 276, 278, 279, 280, 
281, 283, 284, 285, 286, 
287, 288, 289, 290, 292, 
293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 
302, 306, 307, 308, 309, 
310,311, 315,317,321, 
329, 330, 342, 347,- 366, 
369, 370, 371, 375, 376, 
379 

concealed, 374 
confession of, 354 
cruelty in, 389, 390 
diffidence in, 360 
fidelity in, 349, 350 
like a child, 300 
lunatic, poet, 341 
melancholy, 109 
power of, 303, 304, 305, 

339, 343, 351, 365 
trials of, 269, 348 
and scorn, 346 
Love's pinch, 323 

trials, 328, 344 
Lover, 107 
Lover's gift, 372 
Lovers, 282, 324, 355, 358, 
364 

38* 



Lovers, their incongruity, 
301 
and madmen, 340 
parting, 277 
poetical, 363 

Marriage joys, 298 
Meditation on death, 238 
Melancholy, 219, 233 
Mental dereliction, 401, 402 
403, 404, 405, 406, 
407, 408, 409, 410 
suffering, 256 
Miranda, top of admiration, 

367 
Moon, 1,2,3,4, 6, 7 
Morning, 14,15, 16, 17, 18, 
19,20,21,22,23,24,25, 
26 
Music, 78 

its power, 299 

Nature's product, 70 
Night, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 
38,39,40,41,42,43,45, 

still, 55 

tempestuous, 49 

Ocean, 5 
Overjoyed, 217 

Parting, 319 
Pictures, Adonis, 316 
Pontic sea, 82 
Prognostic, 57 

Recollection, painful, 394 
Rural retirement, 88 

Separation, 333, 334, 335, 

336, 337, 338 
Sincerity in love, 327, 345 
Sleep, 150, 151, 152, 153, 155, 

156, 158, 159, 160, 161, 

162 



450 



INDEX TO APHORISMS. 



Sleep, its absence, 157 

drunken, 154 
Smile and sigh, 223 
Smiles and tears, 134, 135, 

136 
Snail, 80 

Sorrow, 189, 190, 191,*203, 
204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 
209,210,230,231 
parental, 225, 232 
relieved, 234 
secret, 229 
turned to joy, 183 
Spring, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 
Summer, 66, 68, 69 
Sun, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 

moon, sea, earth, law, 
thieves, 79 

Tears, 128, 130, 131, 132, 
133 
their power, 139 



Tears and sighs, 214 
Tempest, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 

58,59 

mental, 218 
Thunder and lightning,^46, 

47, 48, 49 
Time, its effects, 83, 84, 143, 

144 
Tragic silence, 395,<396, 397, 

398, 399, 400 



Unkindness, severe, 392 
Virtues breed love, 356 



Widow, her lamentation, 368 
Wife, 361, 362, 363 

faithful, 377 
Winter, 76 



INDEX TO APHORISMS. 



Abstinence, 135 

and gluttony, 193 
Accusation, 12, 455 
Achievement, 76 
Acquaintance, gross, 392 
Action, eloquence, 73 
Actions, black, 366 
Activity, 265 
Advantage, 233, 386 
Adversaries, 257 
Adversity, 326, 343, 560 
Affection, 245, 440, 518, 684 

filial, 649 

strong, 675 
Affliction, 437 
Age, in love, 696 



Ambition, 82, 188, 347, 648 
Amity, 40 

pretended, 156 
Anger, 78 
Ant, 298 

Appeal, pure, 671 
Apprehension, 512 
Armour, 502 
Assurance, 700 
Attainment, 566 
Authority, 228,406 
gold, 474 
Avoidance, 475, 636 
Axioms, prudential, 327 
Ay and No, 324 



INDEX TO APHORISMS. 



451 



Bad, make not worse, 679 

Beauty, 564, 613, 615 

its effects, 553, 663, 

668 
and virtue, 185 
without virtue, 694 

Beams, 653 

Bee, 166 

Beggar's book, 79 

mounted, 547 

Beggary, 524 

Benefits, 511 

Benevolence, 3 

Bird-limed, 175 

Bitter, sweet, 106 

Blessing, double, 498 

Blind men, 214 

Blindness, 396 

Bloods, young, 645 

Boasting, 280 

Bondage, 376, 414 

Bounty's foe, 385 

Braggarts, 266, 626 

Brevity, 460 

Britain's harts, 283 

Business, 459 

Calamity, 272 
Captain, 191 
Care, 620 
Case, rotten, 124 
Cause and effects, 145 
Caution, 250, 357, 370 
Celerity, 92, 194 
Ceremony, 577 
Change, 132 
Charity, 5 
Chastity, 616 
Cherry, pit, 210 
Children, toward, 234 
Choice, 103 
Circumspection, 607 
Citv, the, 212 
Cloud, 47 

Comfort and sorrow, 328 
Compensation, 146 
Competition, 239 



Conceit, 383 
Conscience, 46, 255, 596 

good, 133 
Constancy, 148 
Contentment, 320 
Contest, 80 
Coronets, 262 
Correction, 650 
Corruption, 408 
Counsel, 644 

friendly, 84 
Counsellors, 568 
Counterfeit, 99, 251 
Courage, 157 
Courtier, 63 
Courtiers, 60 
Cowardice, 253, 405, 481 
Cowards, 652 
Crimes, 367, 391 
Cuckoo, 637 
Cunning, 179 
Cupid, 139, 165 
Cup, inordinate, 542 
Curs, 244 
Curses, dread, 72 
Custom, 182, 215 

Dainty, 149 

Danger foretold, 174 

Dead, the, 532 

Death, 138, 190, 192, 554 

brave, 546 

gives possession, 692 
Deeds, ill, 9, 11 
Deer, strucken, 380 
Defamation, 573 
Delay, 119, 335, 647 
Descent, poor, 481 
Desertion, self, 85 
Desire, drunken, 686 

unsatisfied, 350 
Despatch, 459 
Desperation, 351 
Detection, 436 
Determination, 216 
Detraction, 430 
Devil, 345 



452 



INDEX TO APHORISMS. 



Devil's crest, horn, 429 
Difficulties, 500 
Diffidence, 517 
Diligence, 19 
Discourse, 297 
Discretion, 108, 348 
Dishonesty, 50 
Dissimulation, 446 
Dolour, its influence, 689 
Doubtfulness, 454 
Downfall, 390 
Dream, 492 
Drones, 178 
Drunkard, 22 
Dwarf, a stirring, 270 

Earth, waters, 657 

Ears, influence of, 664 

Elephant, 271 

End, 120, 538 

Enemy, 96 

Envy and malice, 476 

Equality, 574 

Equivocation, 336 

Events, high, 90 

Evil, 537 

Exactness, scrupulous, 94 

Example, 563 

bad, 243 
Exercise, 419 
Expectation, 273 
s, 435 
Extravagance, 346, 591 
Eye, mistake of, 661 
Eyes, blind, 483 
true, 687 

Faithfulness and courage, 

388 
Faith, plural, 618 
Falsehood, 481 
False sorrow, 611 
Fame, 191 

posthumous, 510 
Fashion, 509 
Fasting, 297 
Father and children, 549 t 



Father and son, 422 
Fault, 466 

Fear, 4, 158, 171, 284, 373, 
404, 581 

and hate, 275 
Feast, 253, 473 
Feasts, 360 
Feasting, 314 
Feigning, 403 
Fellowship, in woe, 688 
Festivity, 577 
Feuds, domestic, 49 
Fidelity, 515 
Figure, crooked, 248 
Fire, 232 

straws, 68 
Flattery, 98, 229, 325, 606 
Flea, lion, 418 
Flowers, 654 
Folly, 203, 259 

and wisdom, 89, 402 
Foolery, 25, 484 
Fools, 205 
Forgiveness, 382 
Fortune, 268, 278, 374, 464 
Fortune's tooth, 276 
Foul cankering rust, 659 
Frailty, 377, 496 
Fray, 253 
Friend, 267, 411 

at court, 241 
Friendship, 150, 480 
Fruit, 152 

ripe, 548 
Fury, 93 
Futurity, 164 

Gamester, 416 
Gentleman, 141 
Giant and dwarf, 270 
Giddiness, self, 111 
Gifts, 423, 520, 535 
Gluttony, 253 
Gold, its power, 315, 699 
Good, comparative, 105 

excess of, 249 

will, 497 



INDEX TO APHORISMS. 



453 



Grace, 521, 567 

Graces, 35 

Gravity, 210 

Greatness, 172, 421, 456 

Grief, 31, 45, 57, 69, 130, 

159, 333, 539 
Guests, 189 
Guilt, 158, 221 

Habit, 166, 322 

evil, 166 
Harms, wailing of, 544 
Hands and hearts, 310 
Haste, 629 
Havoc, 425 
Hazard, 505 
Heart bruised, 354 
Hercules, 246, 304 
Heretic, 121 
Home, 8 

keeping, 365 
Honesty, 122, 399, 426, 561 
Honour, 51, 142, 381, 677 

and beauty, 662 

honesty, 305, 598 
Honour's train, 587 
Hope, 42, 306, 331, 507 

things out of, 683 
Hospitality, 24 
Hours, sad, 332 
Humility, 197 
Hunger, 290 

Hypocrisy, 28, 66, 161, 337 
401, 557 

Ignorance, 628 

and knowledge, 65 
Impatience, 631 
Improvement, 311 
Inconstancy, 307 
Indiscretion, 109, 543 
Industry, 298, 504 

and honesty, 602 
Inevitably, lamenting, 64 
Infidelity, 329 
Infirmity, human, 601 



Inflexibility, 271 
Ingratitude, 395, 678 
Injustice, 62 
Innocents, 53 
Insincerity, 330 
Insociability, 55 
Instinct, 86 
Instruction, 26 
Instrument, weak, 29 
Integrity, 286 

Jesters, 639 
Jewels, princes, 532 
Joy, 102 

grief, 580, 634 
Joys, 495 

earthly, 320 
Judas, 59 
Judgments, blind, 483 

and reason, 151 
Justice, 144,299 

Kindness, 134, 256, 615 
Kingdom, 187 
Kings, 182 

misdeeds of, 682 
Knavery, 33, 222 
Knavish speech, 201 

Labour, 295 

pleasant, 698 
Ladies, 129 
Lady's verily, 126 
Lapwing, 186 
Law, 100, 379 
Learning, 417 
Legal, professions, 502 
Licentiousness, 112 
Lies, 562 
Life, 438, 463 

condition of, 364 

a dream, 492 

love of it, 534 

its trials, 453 
Light and lust, 685 



454 



INDEX TO APHORISMS. 



Lion, 244 
Lion's skin, 97 

whelp, 75 
Listener, 242 
Love, 81,276,281,323,487, 

529, 530, 531, 558, 604, 

614,670 

and fear, 541 

fire of, 697 

its power, 293 

ruined, 695 

and time, 254 

its wit, 693 
Lovers, 136, 170, 237, 316, 
439 
vows, 516 

Madmen, 358, 641 
Madmen's epistles, 27 
Malady, 499 
Malice, 579 
Man, 603 

effeminate, 196 

foolish, 77 
Manners, evil, 433 
good, 209 
Marriage, hasty, 633 
Marriages, 23 
Meals unquiet, 49 
Mediocrity, 317 
Melancholy, 113 
Men, frail, 570 

great, 217 

when merriest, 583 
Men's vows, 202 
Mercy, 368, 477 
Mind, golden, 30 
ignoble, 181 
Mirth, 155 
Misery, 199, 369 
Mockery, sinful, 52 
Monarchs, 609 
Money, 225, 361 
Mortality, 118 
Motion, 260 
Murder, 431, 651 



Music, a comforter, 309 

its effects, 372 
Mutability, 21 

Nature, 200, 219, 356, 625 
human, corrupt, 442 
virtuous, 479 

Necessity, 127, 486 

Neglection, 87 

Nettle, folly, 259 

News, bad, 204 

Nobility, true, 37 

Nothing, 308, 642 

Noses, 214 

Novelty, 88, 223 

Oaths, 140, 445 
Obedience, 231, 420 
Obligation, 137 
Offence, 468, 472, 572, 597 
and judgment, 471 
Offences, their origin, 38 
Opinion, 208,218, 413 
Opportunity, 263, 303 

neglected, 15 
Ostentation, 230 



Partizan, 427 

Path, to danger, 660 

Passion, 519 

Patience, 41, 58, 104, 125, 
331,387 

Peevishness, 289 

Persistency, 301 

Perverseness, 441 

Physic, 632 

Pity, soft, 681 

Plants, 252 

Pleasure and action, 43 
false, 44 
and revenge, 61 

Plot, 490 

Poison, medicinal, 169 
and treason, 646 



INDEX TO APHORISMS. 



455 



Pomp, 655 
Poor wretches, 669 
Posthumous fame, 510 
Poverty, its effects, 318 
Power, 70, 261, 452 
Praise, 236, 447, 589 

self, 13 
Precaution, 220 
Precedence, 536 
Precipitation, 458 
Pretext, 183 
Prevention, 177 
Pride, 14, 167, 198, 397 
Prince, a begging, 586 
Privacy, 640 
Prodigality, 623 
Prognostic of evil, 627 
Prolixity, 462 
Prudence, 54, 321 
Public bodies, 294 
Purpose, flighty > 478 

Quarrel, 393 
Quarrels, 285 

Rage, 160, 334 

and tears, 180 

Raillery, 318 

Rashness, 448 

Raven, 277 

Reason, 39 

and love, 528 
actions, 123 

Reciprocity, 176, 238 

Regret, 153 

Regularity, 264 

Remedies, 353 

Remedilessness, 359 

Repentance, 344, 394 

Report, 525 

Reputation, 494 

Resignation, 556 

Resolution, want of, 545 

Retaliation, 619 

Retribution, 291 

Reverence, 20 



Revenge, 300 
Rhymes, 415 
Rivalry, 239 
Roman, 638 
Rumour, 409 

Sacrifice, 287 
Safety, 168 
Scar, 101 

Scars, jests at, 339 
Scorn, 450, 605 
Scorpion's nest, 54 
Security, 312 

confident, 207 
Self, 6, 173 

desertion, 85 
knowledge, 400, 488, 

508, 550 
love, 1 15, 485 
neglecting, 115 
praise, 13 
will, 36, 258 
Serpents, 319 
Service, 575 
Shadow's bliss, 571 
ShameJessness, 56 
Silence, 584 
Simplicity, 71 
Sin, 1, 162,342,408,522 
Sincerity, 282 
Slander, 465 
Smile, hypocrisy, 337 

influence of, 658 
Society, 55 
Soldier, 184 
Snow, 527 
Sophistry, 585 
Sorrow, 363, 407, 491 

and comfort, 328 
feigned, 513, 611 
notes of, 501 
sudden, 163 
weighed with com- 
fort, 328 
Strength, 559 

Hercules, 246 
with strength, 610 



456 



INDEX TO APHORISMS. 



Strife, domestic, 117 
Strokes, inevitable, 443 
Subserviency, 315 
Success, 83 
Succession, 375 
Sufferance, 470 
Suitors, 593 

Summer and spring, 206 
Surfeit, 551 
Suspicion, 116, 255 
Swallow, men, 412 



Tardiness, 517 
Tavern bills, 594 
Tears, 16, 398, 676 
Temptation, 2 
Terms, fair, 161 
Thanks, 269 
Theft, 621 
Thief, 255 

Thieves and judges, 444 

knaves, 467 

Things, misdeeds of, 682 

past, 526, 555 
Thoughts, 279, 313, 449, 622, 
672 
pure, 666 
unstained, 665 
Time, 110, 154, 211, 226, 

292, 340, 457, 506, 

565, 599, 656 
and love, 254 
Tombs, gilded, 247 
Traitor, 585 

Transmutation, 461 , 

Travellers, 624 
Treachery, 7 
Treason, 533, 673 
Treaty, 514 

Triumph, of the vile, 503 
Truth, 48, 424, 540 

life, 352 

unpalatable, 213 

and virtue, 600 
Turtles, 148 



Tyranny, 128, 302 
Tyrants, 114,410 

Unfeelingness, 680 
Unquietness, 493 

Valour, 108,240, 405 

true, 667 
Value, 389 
Venus, tears, 349 
Verdict, 469 
Vice, 67,91,523,576 
Victory, 235 

Villains, rich and poor, 434 
Virtue, 451, 552, 569 
courageous, 10 
Virtues, 433 
Vows, 32 

lover's, 147 

War, 195, 227 
Wastefulness, 296 
Watching, 608 
Wealth, 590 
Weapons, broken, 338 
Weariness and sloth, 489 
Wedges, blunt, 588 
Weeping, joy, 482 
Welcome, 371 

and unwelcome, 578 
Whirligig of time, 131 
Wickedness, 378 
Wife, 617 
Will, 39, 674 
Wine, 428 
Wisdom, 51,519 

and folly, 89, 34 L, 
402, 635 
Wishers, 74 
Wishes, 595 604, 
Wit, 95, 107 
Wits, 630 
Woe, 432, 437 
Woman, 643 

beauty, 612 

froward, 234 



MISCELLANEOUS INDEX. 



457 



Woman, masculine, 196 

Words, 17 

deeds, 384 
few, 28:2, 691 
good, 274 

World, 224 

Worth, 143, 288 



Wound, private, 362 
Wrath, dragon, 355 
Wrong and blame, 62 
Wrongs, 18 

Youth, 34 

home-keeping, 365 



MISCELLANEOUS INDEX. 



Affection, 28, 29, 30 
Age, 25, 26, 27, 116 
Agincourt, preparations for 

battle, 175 
Ambition, 16, 17 

political, 352 
to be checked, 238 
Apprehension, 52 
Arbitrary ministers, 206, 

207, 208 
Arthur's death, 11 
Austerity, political, 339 
Authority, 193, 194, 195, 

243, 244 



Bad doings, 214 
Bear hunting, 134 
Beauty, 119 

Blessings undervalued, 69 
Braggart, 239 

Bravery, 249, 250, 251, 252, 
253, 254, 255 



Calamity, mental, 45 
Captain, a slave, 266, 267 
Civil dissension, 220 
Clarence's dream, 1 
Cleopatra's barge, 130 
Common people, 192 

39 



Commons, 326 
Conflict, bloody, 164 
Conscience, its power, 1, 2, 

3,132 
Consideration before war, 

298, 299, 300, 301, 303, 

304, 305 
Consistency, 191 
Conspiracy, 233 
Contention, 229 
Country in affliction, 149 
Courage, in battle, 248 
false, 189 
true, 190 
Coxcomb, 181 
Cozenage, 172 
Cranmer's prophecy, 324 



Daughter, want of feeling, 70 
Death, 117 

a leveller, 180 
Deceitfulness, 92 
Deed, good, 44 
Deer, wounded, 133 
Degrees in states and com- 
munities, 272, 273 
Desdemona at sea, 131 
Despondency, 64, 65 
Destruction, 217 
Detraction, 24 



458 



MISCELLANEOUS INDEX. 



Discord in parliament, 327, 

328, 329 
Diseases of the times, 234, 

235 
Dissension in a state, 296, 

297 
Distress, 46, 47 
Distribution, 225 
Doubts and fears, 100 
Drum, 174 
Duplicity, 42 

Earth, its bounty, 104 
Elevation, political, 343, 344 
England, 145, 14G 

its greatness, 157, 

158, 159, 160. 

161, 162, 163 
English, characters of the, 

204 
courageous, 263 
Excuses to the distressed, 95 
Expectations realised, 86 

Fairies, 139,140, 141, 142 

Fawner, 187 

Fear and niceness, 68 

Female, beautiful, 83, 84 

Fidelity, 60, 61 

in office, 49 

Firmness, 211, 212 

Flattery, 290 

political, 340, 341 

Freedom, 138 

Friendship, 82 

fickle, 85 
real, 35 
unfaithful, 94 

Foresight, 227 

Fortune, change of, 76 

Government, concord in, 285 
Graces, external and inter- 
nal, 182 
Greatness, 21 

departing, 13, 19, 
20 



I Hare, 143 
j Head of a mob, 241 
j Heaven, the judge, 36 
Heavenly bliss, presage of, 

167 
Honesty, 53, 54, 55 

its appeal, 38, 39 
Honour, 22 

lost, 216 
Hounds, 135, 136 
Humility, 186 
Hypocrisy, 121, 237 

political, 342, 346, 
348 

Illness, severe, 48 
Impatience, 108 
Infidelity, 67 
Ingratitude, 291 
Insensibility, 63 
Insincerity, political, 350 
Insolence, political, 345 
Instability of mankind, 196, 

197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 

202 
Integrity, 23 
Invasion, 284 
Irresolution, 178 

Judgment, perverted, 102 
Julius Csesar's fame, 177 
Jury and justice, 224 
Justice, 228 

Kent, 147 
Kindness, 120 

inadversity, 97,98 
and firmness, 219 
King-becoming graces, 307 

beloved, 315, 316 
King's content, 270, 271 
embarkation, 165 
mental conflict, 166 
Kindly firmness, 210 
Kings, 308 

their cares, 319, 320, 
321,322,323 



MISCELLANEOUS INDEX. 



459 



Kings, flattered, 269, 310 
mortal, 317 
must be respected, 311 
a sympathy to, 313 
should be no tyrants, 
318 

Knight of the garter, 240 



Law, 226 

Life, its fluctuation, 50,51 
Lions and lambs, 262 
Lucrece, 10 

Maidens, suing, 66 
Man, dependant, 34 

how noble, 87, 88, 89, 
90,91 
Martial man, superior, 276 
Melioration, 118 
Midnight, 123 
Mind troubled, 4, 5, 6 7, 8, 9, 

213 
Modesty, 56 
Morning, 137 
Murder, 12, 14, 15 

contemplated, 13 
Muse, 128 
Music, 125, 126, 127 

Night, 114, 115 
Nightingale, 144 
Nobleness of mind, 184, 185 

Oblivion, 111 
Ophelia, drowned, 71 

Parallelism in life, 245 

Parliament, 325 

Parting, its pang, 73 

Patience, 62 

Peace, 282, 283, 332, 333, 334 
mild in, 275 
recommended, 287 
after war, 155, 156 



Persecutions, 203 

Pilate, 237 

Players, 93 

Poetry, 129 

Political conjectures, 289 

surfeit, 278 
Populace, 230 

not to be flattered, 
215 
Popularity, 169, 170, 171,209 
Poverty, 31 
Power, revengeful, 246 

its authority, 183 
Precaution, 227 
Premature old age, 32 
Priest, political, 353, 354, 

355, 356, 357 
Prince's favourites, 309 
Prodigies, 358, 359, 360, 

361,362, 363,364 
Promotions, 222 
Providence, confidence in, 72 

in a state, 292 
Purity, 43 

Queen Elizabeth, 324 

Rage, 231 
Rebellion, 286 
Redress, 218 
Reformation, 312 
Reformers, 205 
Remembrance, 122 
Reputation, 101 
Resister of law, 188 
Retribution, needful, 236 
Richard II. in affliction, 168 
Rumour, its evil, 221 
Rumours, 288 

Security, false, 223 
Self-defence in war, 302, 306 

inspection, 103 
Serenity of mind, 124 
Shipwreck, 74, 75 
Sincerity, political, 349, 351 



460 



MISCELLANEOUS INDEX. 



Soldier, 247, 256, 258 

honest, 347 

with mere prattle, 
264, 265 

true, 268 

vain, 260, 261 
Soldier's death, lamented, 257 

fallen honours, 252 

life, 151 

in time of war, 148 
Submission to Providence, 33 
Sufferance, 242 
Sympathy, 80 



Taxation, 293, 294, 295 
Temptations, 79 
Thanks, 41 
Thoughtfulness, 37 
Time, 109, 110, 112, 113 
Time's sad appearance 232 
Touchstone of sincerity, 96 
Trojan courage, 179 
Trumpeter, 173 



Unanimity, political, 330 
Usurper, 314 



War, 152,153, 154,331,335, 
336, 337, 338 
bold in, 275 
different opinions on, 

274 
preparations for, 150 
prudence in, 277, 279, 
280, 281 
Warrior, 176 
Wife, 57, 58, 59 
W T onder, 99 

World, its dissolution, 107 
duplicity, 40 
a stage, 106 
ts way, 105 



Youth, 81 

their happiness, 79 
Youth's perfections, 77, 78 



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